A strong earthquake struck central Myanmar on Friday, earthquake monitoring services said, which affected Bangkok as well with hundreds of people pouring out of buildings in the Thai capital in panic after the tremors.

There was no immediate word from Myanmar on damage after the quake, which the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said had a 7.7 magnitude and was at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles).

The epicentre was about 17.2 km from the city of Mandalay, which has a population about 1.2 million, according to USGS.

Witnesses in Bangkok said people ran out onto the streets in panic and water splashed out of swimming pools.