Major earthquake sends shockwaves through Portland's Burmese community

Stunning videos continue to emerge showing when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck southeast Asia on Friday.

More than 1,000 bodies had been recovered from the rubble as of Saturday in Myanmar and 2,376 people had been injured. Those numbers were expected to rise.

The news sent shockwaves through Portland’s large Burmese community.

The quake was centered in Mandalay Bay, Myanmar, but felt 600 miles away in Bangkok where Portland resident Lung Wah Lazum was visiting.

Video he shot showed water spewing out of a skyscraper.

"All the cars on the street, all the motor motorcycles, everybody was stuck for five hours and everybody was panicking,” he said.

Lazum was on a trip for a planned concert where he was set to perform to raise money for humanitarian aid.

"We saw all the speakers and the music, the instrument[s] [were] wobbling, and then we decided to go down. We checked all the surrounding [areas] and everybody was freaked out,” Lazum said.

Back home in Portland his wife, Seng Ra, was frantically trying to reach him.

“After I watched the news on the Facebook, I was very heart [broken.] And then I tried to connect my husband at that point, at that moment,” she told KATU.

She finally got a hold of him about 40 minutes later.

It was a different story for Mya Myint, who owns Sandy Myanmar Cuisine at the Rockwood Food Hall in Gresham.

She has family and a business in the earthquake zone and communication has been an issue as many areas in that region do not have electricity or internet because of an ongoing civil war in the region.

“I'm worried about the relatives of my family and all of my stuff in there too. So that's why we try to contact them, but it's very hard. I pray to God that no one can have a dangerous situation,” Myint told KATU.

Meanwhile, recovery efforts continue as the death toll continues to rise.

U.S. officials estimate the death toll to top 10,000.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that the U.S. is willing to help but is not assisting yet.

Officials warn aftershocks last for months.