The earthquake in Burma leaves more than 1,600 dead

The death toll from the powerful earthquake that struck Burma and Thailand rose sharply Saturday to more than 1,600 people, as rescue teams search for possible survivors among ruined houses or a collapsed skyscraper in Bangkok.

The magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck central Burma early Friday afternoon, with its epicenter near Mandalay, the country's second-largest city, badly damaged.

The tremor, followed by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock, destroyed numerous buildings, buckled roads and toppled bridges in this impoverished and isolated Southeast Asian country.

At least 1,600 people were killed and more than 3,400 injured in Burma, the military junta that seized power four years ago in a coup announced Saturday.

Thailand confirmed at least ten deaths in Bangkok, the capital.

However, with communications down and parts of Burma under control of ethnic armed groups and dissidents, the real magnitude of the disaster has not fully emerged.

Geologists rank it as the biggest quake recorded in Burma in decades and its tremor reached the capital of Thailand, 600 miles away, where a 30-story skyscraper under construction collapsed trapping dozens of workers.

Dozens of people trapped under rubble

More than 90 people were reportedly trapped in the rubble of a residential building in Mandalay, Burma's second city, which was badly shaken by Friday's quake, a Red Cross official told AFP on Saturday.

The emergency teams are doing their best to find survivors in the wreckage of the Sky Villa Condominium, a 12-story building that did not withstand the 7.7-magnitude tremor.