It was supposed to be a symbol of power, progress and modernity, the face of a new Myanmar, built at a cost of billions of dollars and immune to foreign invaders and natural disasters.

Now the brilliant white streets and eight-lane roads of the new capital Naypyidaw are veined with gaping splits and cracks, its prized airport in ruins, after a massive earthquake struck the country on Friday and made Myanmar’s future more uncertain than ever, its seat of power ever more fragile.

The extent of the disaster – beginning at the epicentre in Mandalay and stretching thousands of miles to neighbouring Thailand – remains unclear.

But it is believed that thousands of people have lost their lives.

As the 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit the country in the early afternoon, residents fled the dust and debris falling around them.

The disaster comes at a critical time for Myanmar, already torn apart by a brutal civil war.

Four years on from the military coup, a third of the population is reliant on humanitarian aid, the economy in ruins, and a severe food crisis under way.

On Friday night, Myanmar’s junta estimated that 144 people and 732 were injured, but the group is known for under-reporting casualties.

A situation report from the United States Geological Survey predicted that there is a 34 per cent chance that there were between 10,000 and 100,000 fatalities.

The ground at Mandalay General Hospital, close to the epicentre, was streaked with blood on Friday.

Around it lay dozens of injured people, some resting on wooden palettes, the others on sheets of cardboard.

“When my mother arrived at the Mandalay General Hospital, she was still alive,” Thiri San, 39, told The Telegraph.

“But there weren’t enough doctors to treat her and she lost too much blood from her head injury and passed away.”