A powerful earthquake rocked central Myanmar’s city of Mandalay around midday Friday local time, causing extensive damage across a wide swath of one of the world’s poorest countries. More than 140 people were killed, with authorities warning the death toll will likely increase dramatically.

The full extent of the death, injury and destruction was not immediately clear – particularly in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war, and where information is tightly controlled.

“The death toll and injuries are expected to rise,” the head of Myanmar’s military government, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said as he announced on television the latest death toll.

Hundreds are feared dead, currently reported missing and more than 700 people were injured in the quake.

At least 10 lives were also lost in the Thai capital, Bangkok – some 1,330 km southeast of the epicentre – after a high -rise building under construction collapsed. Authorities also announced that over a dozen people were injured, to varying degrees, and more than 100 people were missing from three construction sites.

The 7.7 magnitude quake struck at midday near Myanmar’s second largest city of Mandalay. Aftershocks followed, more than 50, according to national geological agencies, with the strongest measuring in at 6.4 magnitude.

Myanmar is in an active earthquake belt, though many of the temblors usually happen in sparsely populated areas, not cities like those affected Friday.

The US Geological Survey – an American government science agency – estimated that the death toll in Myanmar’s quakes could top 1,000.

In Mandalay, the earthquake reportedly brought down multiple buildings, including one of the city’s largest monasteries. Photos from the capital city of Naypyidaw showed rescue crews pulling victims from the rubble of multiple buildings used to house civil servants.

Trump offers US help

Myanmar’s government said blood was in high demand in the hardest-hit areas. In a country where prior governments sometimes have been slow to accept foreign aid, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar was ready to accept assistance.

The United Nations allocated $5 million to start relief efforts. US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington was going to help with the response, but some experts were concerned about this effort given his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance.

The effects of his administration’s deep cuts in foreign assistance through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Department will likely be tested in any response to the first big natural disaster of his second term.

But amid images of buckled and cracked roads and reports of a collapsed bridge and a burst dam, there were concerns about how rescuers would even reach some areas in a country already enduring a humanitarian crisis.

“We fear it may be weeks before we understand the full extent of destruction caused by this earthquake,” said Mohammed Riyas, the International Rescue Committee’s Myanmar director.