Brit tourists' earthquake terror: Holidaymakers describe 'screaming and panic' after being caught up in 'warzone' disaster in Thailand

British tourists caught up in the terrifying Thailand earthquake disaster have described how they 'screamed and panicked' as the quake struck and have likened the devastating aftermath to a 'warzone'.

It comes as thousands are feared dead, with a state of emergency declared after the huge 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Thailand and Myanmar this morning. 

The shallow tremor struck central Myanmar at 13.20 local time (6.50GMT) and was followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock. 

Officials at a major hospital in Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, have declared it a 'mass casualty area', with the death toll in the country expected to rise after buildings were toppled and debris was sent flying.

Large parts of neighbouring Thailand also felt the quake, with a state of emergency declared in the country's capital, which is home to more than 17 million people, many of whom live in tower block apartments.

Chilling accounts from survivors in Bangkok detail how people screamed in terror and ran for their lives as high-rise buildings began to shake.

Virgin Radio presenter Steve Denyer, who was on the 19th floor of a 60-storey building, told Times Radio: 'This is the scariest thing that's ever happened to me.'

'It was exactly like being on a cruise ship in a big storm and you're swaying and losing your balance and you can hear everything creaking. 

'I think the most alarming thing was hearing things crashing from above you.'

Denyer was about to have afternoon tea when 'almighty crashes' coming down from floors above made him feel 'disorientated and dizzy'.

'It took about 10 or 15 seconds for people to start really getting concerned and the staff were panicky, somebody was crying,' he said.

'We were led into a stairwell about 19 floors in the air and walked down, but we could hear crashes, the stairwell was swaying as well.'

Meanwhile, Paul Vincent, a tourist visiting from England, had been at a streetside bar when the quake struck.

'The next thing, everybody came on the street, so there was a lot of screaming and panicking, which obviously made it a lot worse,' he said.

As he came out into the street, he said he saw a high-rise building swaying and water falling from a rooftop pool.

'When I saw the building, oh my God, that's when it hit me,' he said.

The worried mother of a young British expat who lives in Bangkok with his fiancé said the scenes her son had described sounded 'like a warzone', with 'people walking around with suitcases in a daze'.

PR consultant Jaine Brent told the Express: 'My son was in the office talking to a colleague when suddenly his legs went funny and he had to sit down. Then the same thing happened to his colleague and people in his office started screaming.

'Cracks started appearing in the building and it was shaking. Everyone ran out of the building. Some building sites have completely collapsed.'

'There was people crying in the streets and, the panic was horrendous really.'

Another British tourist on holiday in Bangkok said she initially thought the tremors from an earthquake which struck the region were effects from the film she was watching.

Mandy Tang, 38, from London, was in a cinema in Bangkok on holiday when she experienced the tremors from the powerful earthquake.

She said: 'I was watching a film called The Red Envelope. It happened to be quite an action-packed scene when the shake happened, so I initially thought it could have been Imax effect.

'I looked around and none of the local audience left their seats. However, my Taiwanese friend insisted it's an earthquake, so I walked out of the theatre with her, and we met the security guards coming to evacuate us just outside the theatre. 

'We could see the doors were opening and closing, all the chairs were shaking.'

Ms Tang said she was trying to get a car back to her hotel, adding: 'Basically I'm tired and I'm trying to get back.

'It was quite nerve wracking, I've never experienced such a strong shake. It is quite scary.'

Fraser Morton, a Scottish tourist in Bangkok as the earthquake struck, described 'a lot of screaming and a lot of panic'.

Morton was in a shopping mall looking for camera equipment when 'all of a sudden the whole building began to move'.

He said: 'I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving... yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall.'

Like Morton thousands of people poured into Benjasiri Park from nearby shopping malls, high rises and apartment buildings along Bangkok's busy Sukhumvit Road.

The park was seen as an open space, safe from nearby high rise buildings.

Calvin Vercoe from the Isle of Wight, who is on holiday in Bangkok with his partner, said they were in the popular Terminal 21 shopping centre when the quake hit.

'I was in the basement at the time and I felt like I was getting dizzy. I looked up and noticed all the shop signs were moving and said to my partner that I thought we might be having an earthquake.

'We left the shop and people were just running and screaming. We headed outside through the fire escapes with everyone pushing and scrambling and managed to lose my sunglasses in the commotion.'

'The most worrying thing was when outside and watching massive skyscrapers swaying,' he recalled.

Kelly Rhodes, a tourist from Kingston, London, staying at the Okura Prestige in Bangkok, told MailOnline hotel guests were evacuated down 24 flights of stairs when the quake struck.

As airlines began to halt some flights, she said: 'We are now trying to organise flights out but it's chaos.'

'We can't get out of the city. Traffic is at a standstill total gridlock.'

Ms Rhodes added: 'We saw a building with a pool losing water in waves, it was shocking.

'My legs didn’t stop shaking for a few hours, but compared to Myanmar we had it easy!'

Simon and Linda Swann, from New Brighton arrived in the Thai capital yesterday, and checked into their hotel just 17 hours before the earthquake hit.

Describing the horrific ordeal to the Echo Mr Swann, 56, said: 'The tiles started falling off the bathroom walls and the bed and furniture started moving around the room.

'My wife and I just grabbed our things and ran. It was unbelievably frightening. I had no top and no shoes on, and we had these visions of the building collapsing. 

'We just ran for the exit and ran down 10 flights of stairs. There were children screaming. There was debris scattered around.'

 Swann added how despite being a firefighter for 30 years the moment the quake struck was the scariest moment of his life.

Professor Ian Main, Personal Chair in Seismology and Rock Physics, School of GeoSciences, at the University of Edinburgh said: 'The damage is likely to be very severe near the epicentre- based on the estimated intensity of ground shaking above, and maps of population density and vulnerability of buildings.

'The USGS 'PAGER' forecast loss is, sadly, most likely to be in the range 10,000-100,000 fatalities,' he said, referring to the American agency's earthquake impact report.