Lines of wounded at Myanmar hospital after powerful quake

Rows of wounded lay outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on Friday, some writhing in pain and others in shock after a powerful earthquake.

A stream of casualties were brought to the hospital -- some in cars, others in pickups, and others carried on stretchers, their bodies bloody and covered in dust.

"This is a mass casualty area", a hospital official said, as they ushered journalists away from the treatment area.

The hospital itself was hit by the terrifying tremors, which buckled roads and ripped tarmac apart as the ground vibrated violently for around half a minute.

The hospital's emergency department was itself heavily damaged, a car crushed under the heavy concrete of its fallen entrance.

"Many injured people have been arriving, I haven't seen anything like this before," a doctor at the hospital told AFP.

"We are trying to handle the situation. I'm so exhausted."

Some cried in pain, others lay still as relatives sought to comfort them, intravenous drips from their arms.

"Hundreds of injured people are arriving... but the emergency building here also collapsed," security officials at the hospital said.

Others sat stunned with their head in their hands, blood caking their faces and limbs.

Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing visited the hospital, surveying the wounded lying on stretcher