A major earthquake in Myanmar on Friday has caused more than 1,000 deaths and led to the collapse of numerous structures. Even though Myanmar is a high risk region for earthquakes, damage to buildings has been widespread.

The collapse of a 30-story building under construction was “not normal,” an engineering expert said. It was one of the biggest projects ever done by a Chinese state-owned company.

Myanmar’s military government said the death toll had reached 1,644, though that number is expected to rise significantly.

A powerful earthquake killed more than 140 people in Myanmar on Friday, authorities said, toppling buildings and wrecking infrastructure across a wide area, including a skyscraper under construction in neighbouring Thailand.

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar today and wrought destruction across a vast expanse of Southeast Asia. The quake — one of the three largest to hit the region in a century — gouged open roads,

It makes movement around the country both difficult and dangerous, complicating relief efforts and raising fears that the death toll could still rise precipitously. Read More: That Rocked Myanmar and Thailand The earthquake struck midday Friday with an epicenter not far from Mandalay,

In the hours after a massive earthquake flattened buildings in Myanmar's Mandalay on Friday, survivors scrambled through the debris using their bare hands in desperate attempts to save those still trapped.

In a censored nation that runs on rumor and omens, people in Myanmar wonder whether the latest disaster might be a portent of regime change.