A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.7, centered in the Sagaing region near the Myanmar city of Mandalay, caused extensive damage in Myanmar and also shook neighboring Thailand on Friday (March 28, 2025).
How Vulnerable is Myanmar to Earthquakes?
Myanmar lies on the boundary between two tectonic plates and is one of the world’s most seismically active countries, although large and destructive earthquakes have been relatively rare in the Sagaing region.
“The plate boundary between the India Plate and Eurasia Plate runs approximately north-south, cutting through the middle of the country,” said Joanna Faure Walker, a professor and earthquake expert at University College London (UCL).
She explained that the plates move past each other horizontally at different speeds. While this causes “strike-slip” quakes that are normally less powerful than those seen in “subduction zones” like Sumatra, where one plate slides under another, they can still reach magnitudes of 7 to 8.
Why Was the March 28 Earthquake So Damaging?
Sagaing has been hit by several earthquakes in recent years, with a 6.8-magnitude event causing at least 26 deaths and dozens of injuries in late 2012.
However, Friday’s (March 28, 2025) event was “probably the biggest” to hit Myanmar’s mainland in three-quarters of a century, said Bill McGuire, another earthquake expert at UCL.
Roger Musson, an honorary research fellow at the British Geological Survey, told Reuters that the shallow depth of the quake meant the damage would be more severe. The quake’s epicenter was at a depth of just 10 km (6.2 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey.
“This is very damaging because it has occurred at a shallow depth, so the shockwaves are not dissipated as they go from the focus of the earthquake up to the surface. The buildings received the full force of the shaking,” McGuire added.
“It’s important not to be focused on epicenters because the seismic waves don’t radiate out from the epicenter—they radiate out from the whole line of the fault,” he further explained.
Myanmar’s Disaster Management
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program reported on Friday (March 28, 2025) that fatalities could range between 10,000 and 100,000 people, and the economic impact could be as high as 70% of Myanmar’s GDP.
Mr. Musson explained that such forecasts are based on data from past earthquakes and Myanmar’s size, location, and overall quake preparedness.
The relative rarity of large seismic events in the Sagaing region—close to heavily populated Mandalay—meant that infrastructure had not been built to withstand them. As a result, the damage could be far worse.
Mr. Musson noted that the last major quake to hit the region was in 1956, and homes are unlikely to have been built to withstand seismic forces as powerful as those from Friday’s event.
“Most of the seismicity in Myanmar is further to the west, whereas this is running down the center of the country,” he said.
Source: thehindu.com