Inside Deadly Myanmar Earthquake | Living On A Fault Line | WION Wideangle

Oh my god.

On March 28, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake

struck central Myanmar.

It sent shock waves across other parts

of Southeast Asia and

China, leaving a trail of death and

destruction. The death toll exceeded

2800 and more than 3,400 people were

injured.

Thousands of kilometers from the

epicenter, the earthquake caused the

collapse of a high-rise building under

construction in

Bangkok, killing at least nine people

and leaving many others

missing. Bangkok's elevated train

service was shut down in the wake of the

tremor. People even fled from tall

buildings after the city was placed in a

state of

emergency. But what caused the Myanmar

earthquake?

How did it have such a powerful effect

so far away in

Thailand? Why did just one tower

collapse in Bangkok?

And how vulnerable are Myanmar and

Thailand to

earthquakes? All this and more on We on

Wide Angle this week.

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Buildings came down like a pack of

cards.

People screaming and running helter

skelter to find

refuge. These scenes unfolded in central

Myanmar and neighboring

Thailand when a 7.7 magnitude earthquake

struck Myanmar on the 28th of March. The

earthquake hit near Mandandalay,

Myanmar's second largest city at 12:50

p.m. local

time. And 11 minutes later, an

aftershock hit the same

area. Reportedly, three earthquakes of

magnitude 7.7 or greater have struck in

or near Myanmar in the last

century. So, what caused the earthquake

in Myanmar this year? And why was it

deadly? Let's

understand. The Earth's upper layer is

split into different sections called

tectonic plates. These plates keep

moving constantly. It is this movement

that causes earthquakes and volcanoes.

Myanmar is one of the world's most

seismically active countries. It sits on

top of the convergence of four tectonic

plates. The Eurasian plate, the Indian

plate, the Sunda plate, and the Burma

micro plate. To accommodate the motion,

faults, meaning cracks or fractures,

appear in the

rocks. This allows tectonic plates to

slither sideways, leading to

earthquakes.

Central Myanmar, where large plates of

the earth's crust are in motion, is

prone to

earthquakes. Myanmar's vulnerability to

earthquakes is largely due to its

location along the Sagaying fault. It is

a major tectonic boundary between the

Indian plate and the Burma micro plate.

It cuts right through Myanmar north to

south and is more than 1,200 km

long. Data suggests that the movement

that caused a 7.7 magnitude earthquake

was a strike slip where two blocks move

horizontally along each

other. This aligns with the movement

typical of the Sagaing fault. As the

plates move past each other, they

sometimes get stuck building friction

until it is released and the earth

shifts causing an

earthquake. Well, the strike sleep is

when the crust is moving apart along the

folds horizontally. So the the crust of

the Indian plate which is moving

northward relative to the Orurasia and

the Burma area Burma plate is moving

southward relatively to the Indian Ocean

plate and that's a strike slip fault

like the Sant Andreas fault for example

in

California and that's the cause of the

Myanmar earthquake. Well, with such a

magnitude, it's very difficult to uh

expect that the aftershocks will be over

very soon because with magnitude

7.7, there usually are aftershocks for

several weeks or even months.

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The death toll has continued to rise

since the disaster. Official figures put

the number at beyond 2,800 as of April

2nd. Building after building in

Myanmar's second largest city, Manderlay

and beyond lie in ruins.

Damaged roads, bridges, and downed power

lines have made it impossible for rescue

teams to reach many communities in

Myanmar, which has been engulfed by war

since the Huta seized power in a coup 4

years ago in

2021. The Indian Space Research

Organization has released pictures of

the damage caused by this earthquake in

Myanmar that killed thousands of people.

The images were taken by the Earth

imaging and mapping satellite Ctosat

3. The earthquake's epicenter was near

Manderlay, Myanmar's second largest

city, which suffered extensive

damage. A video shows the Ava Bridge in

Mandandalay, which was originally built

by the British in the 1930s, had partly

collapsed. Take a look at the other

pictures.

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alongside reports of widespread damage.

Gripping stories of survival and

accounts of devastating loss also came

to the

forefront. Residents scrambled through

collapsed buildings searching for

survivors as aftershocks rattled the

devastated city of

Manderlay. A video recorded by a teenage

girl showed her ordeal as she was

trapped with her sister and grandmother

in the wreckage of their quake hit

apartment building in Myanmar.

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The three of them were confined in a

small space surrounded by debris of the

collapsed sky villa condo in Manderlay.

One of the girls was seen banging on the

rubble of the wreckage and crying for

help. Faint voices could also be heard

from beyond the walls.

Thankfully, the teenagers and their

grandmother were later rescued. In

another part of the city, tea shop owner

Vin Levin picked his way through the

remains of a collapsed restaurant. He

lifted the rubble and helped people to

come out of

it. Now, there are still many places

where rescuers can help. We don't know

whether people are trapped under the

rubble. Quite a lot of places still need

help. together.

In yet another story from Manderlay,

rescuers pulled a woman alive from the

wreckage of a collapsed apartment

building. Applause rang out as Fu Li

Kang was brought out of the condominium

rubble on a

stretcher. Her husband embraced her as

the stretcher was lifted down.

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I am so worried about my wife and

heavy-minded. At the beginning, I didn't

think she would be alive because the

floor they were stuck on, people have

very little chance to live. I am very

happy that I heard good news that she's

alive.

These stories of survival keep emerging

as rescuers continue to grapple with the

scale of the devastation.

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Strong tremors were also felt in

neighboring Thailand, particularly in

the capital Bangkok, where around 11

million people live in the metropolitan

area.

While the dramatic footage emerged of

high-rise buildings in Bangkok swaying

during the quake, it was the unfinished

building in Bangkok that had collapsed

completely. At least 18 people died in

Bangkok, 33 injured and 78 remain

missing.

Search and rescue operations continue at

the collapsed building

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site. Rescue teams scaled the wreckage

with search dogs on standby to detect

any signs of life.

Despite the relentless efforts, some

relatives have begun to accept the grim

reality of the

situation. Okay. Okay. We have to stay

strong. We can't afford to be weak

because we have to wait for our child.

We can't break down. We can't get sick.

The rescue teams are doing their best. I

can see that. Just like what we've seen

in the news. However, it turns out,

that's how it has to be. We just have to

accept that things will be the way they

are.

Amid all the chaos in the city due to

the earthquake, a Thai woman gave birth

to a baby in a hospital as it was being

evacuated. 36-year-old Kanong Sin Wang

Shin had come in for a routine checkup,

but went into labor shortly after the

tremors began. She was put on a hospital

bed and gave birth to a baby girl.

I was telling my baby, "Don't come out

yet." But the pain kept growing and

growing. Then I was put on a hospital

bed and was surrounded by a lot of

medical staff where I just gave birth

right then and there. It was all a shock

to me too. Once my baby is born, the

ground stopped shaking. I felt great. I

saw my child and the earthquake stopped.

I am so impressed and happy by how the

hospital took care of me.

Earthquake resistant buildings are more

expensive to construct and Thailand

unlike Myanmar does not frequently

experience

earthquakes. Before 2009, Bangkok

reportedly did not have a comprehensive

safety standard for constructing

buildings to withstand earthquakes.

This means that older buildings would

have been particularly vulnerable.

Yet, the building that collapsed was

new. It was still under construction

when the earthquake hit. And in all

likelihood, the updated building

standards would have been

applied. Questions over how and why the

skyscraper collapsed are doing the

rounds.

The collapsed building was reportedly

the unfinished headquarters of

Thailand's state audit office. It had

been under construction for 3 years at a

cost of more than 2 billion Thai bot or

around 58

million. It was a joint venture between

Italian Thai Development PLC and China

Railway Number 10 Group.

China Railway number 10 Thailand is a

subsidiary of a Chinese firm. The

company serves as a construction

contractor for office

buildings. Residential buildings, public

roads, railways, and underground

railways. Thai authorities have ordered

an investigation into that isolated

collapse to determine whether it could

have been due to inadequate building

materials, design flaws, or a failure in

the inspection process.

Well, Thailand and Bangkok in particular

is very far away from the epicenter

area. And the reason why um it made um

collapses of the skyscraper for example

the building was related possibly both

to the low quality of the building but

also to the um amplification of the

shaking due to the presence of uh sandy

layers and

amplification and side effects. what we

call an amplification due to the

presence of sediments which slow down

the energy of

the seismic waves which are amplified

and therefore they produce a stronger

shaking especially for buildings which

have low frequency of oscillation like

skyscraper. What I know is that uh for

sure Bangkok is built on a area with

very low quality sediments and that's

why there may be these amplification

effects. The Myanmar quakes tremors were

felt across several neighboring

countries too including China, India,

Vietnam and Bangladesh.

Amid the devastation, CCTV footage from

a hospital in China's Yunan shows how

two maternity ward nurses risked their

lives to protect newborns as the

earthquake violently shook the

facility. The violent shaking caused the

wheeled beds to roll uncontrollably

across the room. The nurses struggled to

maintain their balance while making sure

the infants remained unharmed.

Let's now look at the other recent

earthquakes that made

headlines. In late January this year, a

highly unusual series of earthquakes

alarmed the authorities in

Greece. Scientists detected nearly 8,000

earthquakes in just over 2 weeks near

Greece's volcanic island of Santorini,

the largest of these tremors.

Registering a magnitude of 5.2 raised

fears among locals and tourists alike.

Approximately 11,000 people were

evacuated from the island by sea with

ferry operators and airlines assisting

in the

effort. A state of emergency was

declared on Santorini. Santorini is a

popular tourist destination in Greece,

known for its iconic white and blue

buildings and is part of the Cyclades

group of islands in the Aian

Sea. The islands have a volcanic history

stretching back 650,000 years.

Earthquakes are common in the region,

but the frequency and intensity of the

recent quakes have caused widespread

concern. Authorities have also noted the

risk of larger tremors that could

potentially trigger a

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tsunami. On the 13th of March 2025, a

4.4 Four magnitude earthquake struck

near the Italian city of

Naples, shaking buildings, cutting

power, and sending frightened locals

onto the streets. Images from the

affected areas show damaged buildings,

fallen debris, and a car with a smashed

windcreen.

I was sleeping and suddenly I heard a

terrible bang. I had never heard one so

loud. It was a very bad moment. Then of

course when I got up I turned on the

lights and saw that my house is full of

cracks. There are cracks everywhere.

It was very strong, very impressive.

It's true that we are partly used to it

here, but it was still very strong. You

can see the damage.

Naples sits at top the cample, a vast

area known for its seismic activity.

declared a regional park 20 years ago.

The area includes 15 towns with a

combined population of over half a

million

residents, many of whom live in the high

risk red zone. The Campiflegrade volcano

last erupted in 1538, but seismic

activity has been on the rise in recent

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decades.

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According to a recent government report,

Japan could face economic losses of up

to $1.81 trillion due to a potential

mega quake along its Pacific coast,

causing nearly 300,000 fatalities.

Japan, one of the world's most

earthquakerprone nations, faces an 80%

probability of a magnitude 8 to9

earthquake occurring in the

Nanka. The seismic zone stretching 900

km along the southwest Pacific coast is

where the Philippine Sea plate is

subducting under the Eurasian plate.

Reportedly, mega quakes occur in this

region once every 100 to 150

years. In 2011, an earthquake of 8.9

magnitude ensued, generated a tsunami

that led to over 15,000 death and

triggered nuclear reactor meltdowns in

the northeast.

The recent report emphasizes the

importance of disaster preparedness,

predicting significant destruction and

the necessity for mass evacuations in

case of an

earthquake. The report warns that up to

298,000 casualties could occur if the

disaster strikes late at night in

winter. As tsunamis and buildings

collapses would intensify the impact.

While earthquakes can't be prevented,

buildings can be constructed in a manner

that minimizes death codes for new

construction and retrofitting existing

buildings. Measures such as properly

connecting walls and slabs, sizing a

building's structure, using updated

technologies, and implementing base

isolation can significantly enhance a

building's resilience.

High-rise buildings or skyscrapers are

being built in cities around the world.

They have become symbols of economic

growth. But it only takes one deadly

quake to shake their foundation and

bring them down to the ground.

Hence the need of the hour is to

prioritize the construction of

earthquake resistant structures

especially in regions prone to seismic

activity as well as in other areas.

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