Bangkok ground to a halt on Friday after a strong earthquake shook the clogged Thai capital, causing chaos and triggering city-wide evacuations that left many thousands of people stranded for much of the day.

All urban rail systems were suspended and roads were gridlocked across one of Asia's biggest cities after the quake in neighbouring Myanmar caused tremors up to a magnitude of 7.1 in Bangkok, about 1,020 km (635 miles) from the epicentre.