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2025 Sagaing earthquake

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2025 Sagaing earthquake
2025 မြန်မာနိုင်ငံငလျင်
USGS ShakeMap
UTC time2025-03-28 06:20:54
USGS-ANSSComCat
Local date28 March 2025 (2025-3-28)
Local time12:50:54 MMT (UTC+6:30)
MagnitudeMw 7.7
Depth10 km (6 mi)
Epicenter22°00′47″N 95°55′19″E / 22.013°N 95.922°E / 22.013; 95.922
TypeStrike-slip
Areas affectedMyanmar, Thailand, Southwestern China
Max. intensityMMI IX (Violent)
Aftershocks4+ recorded
Strongest: mb 6.4[1]
Casualties107+ fatalities, 352+ injuries, 210+ missing or trapped

On 28 March 2025 at 12:50:54 MMT (06:20:54 UTC), a Mw 7.7 earthquake struck the Sagaing Region of Myanmar, with an epicenter close to Mandalay, the country's second largest city. The strike-slip faulting shock achieved a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent).[2] It was the most powerful earthquake to strike Myanmar since 1912. The earthquake caused significant damage in Myanmar and in neighboring Thailand.

The earthquake resulted in at least 107 deaths; 103 in Myanmar and 4 in Thailand.[3]

Tectonic setting

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Myanmar is wedged between four tectonic plates—the Indian, Eurasian, Sunda and Burma plates that interact due to active geological processes. Along the west coast of the Coco Islands, off the Rakhine coast, and into Bangladesh, is a highly oblique convergent boundary known as the Sunda megathrust. This large fault marks the boundary between the Indian and Burma plates. The megathrust emerges from the seafloor in Bangladesh, where it runs parallel and east of the Chin Hills. This boundary continues to north of Myanmar where it ends at the eastern Himalayas.[4]

A 1,400 km (870 mi) transform fault runs through Myanmar and connects the Andaman spreading center to a collision zone in the north. Called the Sagaing Fault, it is a boundary between the Burma and Sunda plates as they slide past each other at 18–49 mm (0.71–1.93 in) per year. It is Myanmar's largest and most active source of earthquakes, running through or close to major cities including Yangon, Naypyidaw and Mandalay. Large and damaging earthquakes occurred along the fault in 1931 (Ms  7.5), 1946 (Mw  7.3 & 7.7), 1956 (Ms  7.0), 1991 (Mw  6.9) and 2012 (Mw  6.9).[5] The magnitude of earthquakes on the Sagaing Fault vary across the fault zone, from Mw  7.0 to 8.0. The recurrence interval also vary depending on the location along the fault; its southern segments which ruptured in 1930 have return periods of 100–150 years based on paleoseismological studies.[4]

Destructive earthquakes have affected the area for centuries but there is limited academic research to understand their seismological characteristics. Most earthquakes in Myanmar, including large, surface rupturing events are not well understood. A large Mw  8.5–8.8 earthquake in 1762 ruptured a section of the Sunda megathrust off the Rakhine coast. That earthquake may have been caused by the Indian plate subducting beneath the Burma plate along the megathrust. Remnants of the subducted Indian plate beneath central Myanmar also causes intraslab earthquakes. The 1975 Bagan earthquake was caused by reverse faulting within the Indian plate at an intermediate depth of 120 km (75 mi).[4]

Earthquake

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The earthquake occurred at 12:50 MMT with epicenter near Mandalay on the Sagaing–Mandalay border region. It measured 7.7 on the moment magnitude scale according to the United States Geological Survey,[2] while the Thai Meteorological Department put the magnitude at 8.2.[6] It is the largest earthquake with an epicenter in Myanmar since the 1912 Maymyo earthquake (Mw  7.9).[7] The focal mechanism solution indicated it occurred due to strike-slip faulting at a depth of 10 km (6.2 mi). The type of faulting is consistent with rupture on the Sagaing Fault. According to a finite fault model released by the USGS, the earthquake rupture extended about 200 km (120 mi) by 35 km (22 mi) from Khin-U Township in Sagaing to Letpadan Township in Bago Region, with a maximum slip of 5.088 m (16.69 ft) recorded northwest of Tada-U, south of the hypocenter.[2] The earthquake was followed by four aftershocks,[8] the largest of which measured mb 6.4 and occurred 12 minutes after the mainshock.[1]

A study by Nobuo Hurukawa and Phyo Maung Maung in Geophysical Research Letters identified two seismic gaps along the Sagaing Fault. One of these gaps is located in central Myanmar between 19.2 degrees north and 21.5 degrees north. The pair concluded that this 260 km (160 mi) gap could produce a magnitude 7.9 earthquake if it completely ruptures.[9]

Impact

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Myanmar

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Ava Bridge in Mandalay Region (pictured here in 2013) was partially damaged by the earthquake

At least 103 people died in Myanmar and more than 300 were injured.[10][11] Deaths were reported in Bago, Mandalay, Shan, Naypyidaw, and Sagaing.[3] According to Reuters, citing three residents in Mandalay, multiple buildings in the city collapsed.[12] At Mandalay International Airport, ceilings collapsed and some damage occurred in the basement.[13] Mandalay University was severely damaged and caught fire.[3] A mosque collapse killed 10 people and several monks were injured when a monastery collapsed in the city.[14] In Maha Aung Myay Township, a two-story tea shop collapsed, trapping around 70 people. Additionally, a three-story car accessories store also collapsed in Pyigyidagun Township, trapping more 10 employees,[15] and in the same township, a building under construction was razed, killing eight and trapping many others.[16] Two deaths were also attributed to a mosque and university building collapsing in Pyawbwe Township.[17] The Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery was also destroyed.[18]

In Sagaing Township, two people were killed by the collapsed of a high-rise building and the Ava Bridge was also destroyed.[19][20]

In the capital Naypyidaw, numerous people were killed and the air traffic control tower of Nay Pyi Taw International Airport collapsed, killing five people[3] and reportedly leaving no survivors in the aftermath.[21] Roads buckled while ceilings partially collapsed in the city.[22] Several homes and religious shrines were also damaged.[23] "Hundreds" of injured people arrived at a hospital with a 1,000 bed capacity,[24] while another hospital reported "mass casualties".[3] The military headquarters, parliament buildings and official housing buildings were heavily damaged.[25]

In Aungban, Shan State, a hotel collapse killed two people and trapped 20 others.[26] Four deaths, several injuries and missing people were reported in villages around Inle Lake. At least 100 homes were also destroyed and damage occurred in pagodas.[27]

In Taungoo Township, Bago, a school collapse killed five children and 14 more were killed by a collapsing mosque.[17] In the township, a school serving as a shelter for displaced people collapsed, trapping more than 20 people.[28] In Pyu, four members of a family died when a wall of their home toppled.[29]

Thailand

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At Faculty of Medicine, Srinakharinwirot University in Ongkharak, Thailand
At a Central Department Store in Khet Bangkok Noi, Bangkok, Thailand
Evacuations in Thailand due to the tremors; both locations pictured are approximately 1,000 km from the epicentre

Across Thailand, the earthquake caused 4 deaths and 50 injuries.[3] In Bangkok, the earthquake caused buildings to sway, resulting in panic among residents.[30][31] Metro and light rail services were partially suspended in Bangkok. Trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand was also suspended.[32] Shaking was also felt in Chiang Mai[22] and most regions of the country.[33]

Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said at least 90 people were missing and 3 people died when a 30-storey government office that was under construction in Chatuchak district collapsed.[34][35]

Though buildings with 15 or higher stories in northern and western Thai provinces are required to be earthquake-proof by a law passed in 1998, old buildings remain unprepared since the law is not retroactive. Bangkok and its surrounding areas have been required to have earthquake-proof buildings since 2008 but government follow-up inspections of the buildings structures there or elsewhere are not common.[36]

Elsewhere

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In Yunnan, China, the earthquake was strongly felt across the province. Houses were damaged and two people were injured in the border city of Ruili.[37][38] Other provinces including Guizhou, Guangxi and Sichuan also felt the tremors.[39]

Tremors were felt across Bangladesh, including cities like Dhaka, Sylhet, Rajshahi and Chittagong, causing people to panic and evacuate buildings.[40][41]

In India, shaking was experienced in the Delhi-National Capital Region at 11:50 IST, causing people to evacuate buildings.[42][43] Northeastern states, particularly Meghalaya, experienced noticeable aftershocks with a 4.0-magnitude tremor reported in the East Garo Hills.[44] Tremors were also felt in cities like Kolkata and Imphal.[45]

The shaking was felt in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, causing people to evacuate buildings.[46] In Laos, shaking was felt in Vientiane, causing people to evacuate buildings.[47] Tremors were also reported in the northern Malaysian states of Penang, Kedah and Kelantan.[48][49]

Response

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Myanmar

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Myanmar's military junta declared a state of emergency in six regions, including Sagaing, Mandalay, Bago, Magway, Shan State, and Naypyidaw, following the earthquake. The junta’s leader, Min Aung Hlaing, visited a hospital in Naypyidaw to assess the treatment of the injured. The junta also requested international humanitarian aid to assist with the aftermath of the disaster.[50][51] General Zaw Min Tun said many hospitals in Mandalay, Naypyidaw, and Sagaing received a large number of injured patients and needed blood donors.[52]

Thailand

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Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra cut short an official visit to Phuket and held an emergency meeting on the disaster.[22] The Governor of Bangkok Chadchart Sittipunt declared a level 2 disaster area for Bangkok.[53]

India

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed India's readiness to provide "all possible assistance" to Myanmar and Thailand following the earthquake that struck both countries. He also shared his prayers for the safety and wellbeing of everyone affected, offering support through a post on X.[54]

European Union

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President of the European Comission Ursula von der Leyen said that the European Union was ready to provide support.[16]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Jump up to: a b ANSS. "M 6.4 - 18 km S of Sagaing, Myanmar 2025". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c ANSS. "M 7.7 - 16 km NNW of Sagaing, Myanmar 2025". Comprehensive Catalog. U.S. Geological Survey.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "Myanmar Earthquake LIVE Updates: 107 Dead, 350 Injured As Rescue Efforts Continue; Thailand PM Urges Calm". CNN-News18. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c Wang, Y. (2013). Earthquake Geology of Myanmar (Ph.D.). California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/XWW2-9P26.
  5. ^ Wang 2013, pp. 27–29.
  6. ^ "Massive Bangkok Quake Leaves City Reeling, Building Crumbles". Bernama. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  7. ^ "မြန်မာတွင် နှစ်ပေါင်း ၁၀၀ ကျော်အတွင်း အပြင်းထန်ဆုံးငလျင် စစ်ကိုင်းကိုဗဟိုပြု လှုပ်ရှား" [Myanmar's strongest earthquake in over 100 years hits Sagaing]. Mizzima News (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  8. ^ "USGS earthquake catalog". United States Geological Survey.
  9. ^ Hurukawa, Nobuo; Maung, Phyo Maung (2011). "Two seismic gaps on the Sagaing Fault, Myanmar, derived from relocation of historical earthquakes since 1918". Geophysical Research Letters. 38 (L01310). Bibcode:2011GeoRL..38.1310H. doi:10.1029/2010GL046099.
  10. ^ BNO News (2025-03-28). "(UPDATE) Earthquake casualties so far:- Myanmar: 103 dead, 300+ injured- Thailand: 4 dead, 50+ injured, 81 trapped- China: 2 injuredTotal: 107 dead, 352+ injured".
  11. ^ BNO News (2025-03-28). "Earthquake casualties so far: - Myanmar: 83 dead, 300+ injured - Thailand: 4 dead, 50+ injured, 81 trapped - China: 2 injured Total: 87 dead, 352+ injured".
  12. ^ Farrell, Stephen; Suleiman, Farouq; Maclellan, Kylie (28 March 2025). "Myanmar Earthquake Live: Strong tremor felt in Yangon and Bangkok". Reuters. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  13. ^ "အင်အားပြင်းငလျင်ကြောင့် မန္တလေးအပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာလေဆိပ်နှင့် နေပြည်တော်အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လေဆိပ်တို့တွင် ထိခိုက်ပျက်စီးမှုများ ရှိ". Elevennews. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  14. ^ "ငလျင်ဒဏ်ကို တစ်နိုင်ငံလုံးခံစားရပြီး မန္တလေး၊ စစ်ကိုင်းနှင့် ရှမ်းတောင်တို့တွင် အပျက်အစီးများ" [Earthquake felt nationwide, with damage reported in Mandalay, Sagaing and Shan State]. Tachileik News Agency (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  15. ^ "မန္တလေးမြို့ မဟာအောင်မြေမြို့နယ်ရှိ နှစ်ထပ်ခွဲလက်ဖက်ရည်ဆိုင် ငလျင်ကြောင့် ပြိုကျခဲ့ပြီး လူ ၇၀ ခန့် ပိတ်မိနေ". Eleven Media Group Co., Ltd (in Burmese). Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b "Thailand and Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as Bangkok declared disaster area with dozens trapped under skyscraper – live". The Guardian. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b "ငလျင်ဒဏ်ကြောင့် တောင်ငူ၊ ပျော်ဘွယ်တွင် လူ ၂၁ ဦး သေဆုံး" [Earthquake kills 21 people in Taungoo, Pyaw Bwe]. Mizzima News (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  18. ^ "ငလျင်ကြောင့် မယ်နုအုတ်ကျောင်း ပြိုကျပျက်စီ" [The Mae Nu brick school collapsed due to the earthquake] (in Burmese). Elevennews. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  19. ^ "ငလျင်ကြောင့် စစ်ကိုင်းတွင် လူ ၂ ဦးသေဆုံး၊ စစ်ကိုင်းတံတားဟောင်းပြိုကျ၊ တံတားသစ် ဖြတ်သန်းခွင့်ပိတ်" [Earthquake kills 2 in Sagaing, old Sagaing bridge collapses, new bridge closed]. Democratic Voice of Burma (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  20. ^ Mehrotra, Vani (28 March 2025). "Under-Construction Skyscraper In Bangkok Collapses After 7.7-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Myanmar". CNN-News18. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  21. ^ "Breaking News- ငလျင်ကြောင့် နေပြည်တော်လေဆိပ်၏ လေကြောင်းထိန်းသိမ်းရေး တာဝါ ကျိုးကျပြီး တာဝန်ထမ်းဆောင်နေသည့် ဝန်ထမ်းအားလုံး သေဆုံး" [Breaking News: Earthquake causes Naypyidaw Airport's air traffic control tower to collapse, killing all staff on duty]. Khit Thit Media (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Two powerful earthquakes hit Myanmar". Al Jazeera. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  23. ^ "Violent earthquakes rock Southeast Asia, prompting evacuations in Thailand and Myanmar". AP News. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  24. ^ "Mass casualty earthquake devastates Myanmar, Thailand, trapping dozens and injuring hundreds". Agence France-Presse. Malay Mail. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  25. ^ Dagon, Maung (28 March 2025). "ငလျင်ကြောင့် နေပြည်တော် စစ်ရုံးနှင့် အနီးတစ်ဝိုက်ရှိ ဝန်ထမ်း အိမ်ယာများ ပျက်ဆီးမှုများပြား" [Earthquake causes extensive damage to Nay Pyi Taw military headquarters and surrounding staff housing]. MPA Press (in Burmese). Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  26. ^ "ငလျင်ကြောင့် အောင်ပန်းဟိုတယ် ပြိုကျ၊ ၂ ဦး သေဆုံးပြီး ၂၀ ခန့် ပိတ်မိနေ" [Aung Pan Hotel collapses due to earthquake, 2 dead, 20 trapped]. Democratic Voice of Burma (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  27. ^ "အင်းလေးတွင် ငလျင်ဒဏ်ကြောင့် နေအိမ် ၁၀၀ ကျော် ပျက်စီးပြီး လူ ၄ ဦး သေဆုံး" [Earthquake in Inle Lake damages over 100 homes, kills 4]. Democratic Voice of Burma (in Turkish). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  28. ^ "ငလျင်လှုပ်ခတ်မှုကြောင့် တောင်ငူဝေဠု၀န်ကျောင်းပြိုကျပြီး စစ်ဘေးရှောင်ကလေး ၂၀ ကျော်ပိတ်မိ" [Earthquake causes Taungoo Weluwan school to collapse, trapping over 20 displaced children]. Yangon Media Group (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  29. ^ "ဖြူးမြို့တွင် ငလျင်ကြောင့် ကျောင်းဆရာမအပါအဝင် မိသားစုဝင် ၄ ဦး သေဆုံး" [Four members of a family, including a school teacher, die in earthquake in Phyu]. Democratic Voice of Burma (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  30. ^ "Strong earthquake rocks Thai capital of Bangkok, prompting evacuations from swaying buildings". Associated Press. WTOP News. 2025-03-28. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  31. ^ "Strong earthquake in central Myanmar, panic in Bangkok". Reuters. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  32. ^ Taha, Rana (28 March 2025). "Powerful earthquake hits Myanmar, felt in Bangkok". DW News. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  33. ^ Sedghi, Amy; Mackay, Hamish; Sedghi (now), Amy; Mackay (earlier), Hamish (2025-03-28). "Myanmar hit by 7.7-magnitude earthquake with tremors reaching as far as Thailand – live updates". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  34. ^ Rising, David; Saksornchai, Jintamas (28 March 2025). "Thai defense minister says 90 missing and 3 dead at the site of high-rise under construction". Associated Press. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  35. ^ "Myanmar-Bangkok Earthquake: At Least 4 Dead, Multiple Buildings Collapse, Thai Stock Exchange Closed For The Day". Outlook India. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  36. ^ https://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/2691448/dont-take-quakes-lightly
  37. ^ "缅甸发生7.9级地震：云南多地有震感，瑞丽有房屋受损、人员受伤". China National Radio. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  38. ^ "云南瑞丽多处房屋倒塌2人受伤 民众亲述灾难来临一刻". Singtao. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  39. ^ "突发！缅甸发生7.9级地震，云南、四川多地有震感". 鲁中晨报. 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  40. ^ "দেশের বিভিন্ন স্থানে ভূমিকম্প অনুভূত, উৎপত্তিস্থল মিয়ানমারে মাত্রা ৭.৩" [Tremors felt across the country, magnitude 7.3 in epicenter Myanmar]. Samakal (in Bengali). 28 March 2025.
  41. ^ "Earthquake shakes Dhaka, other parts of Bangladesh". The Daily Star. 28 March 2025.
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  50. ^ Picheta, Ross Adkin, Lex Harvey, Edward Szekeres, Hassan Tayir, Todd Symons, Rob (2025-03-28). "Live updates: Myanmar earthquake magnitude 7.7, tremors felt in Thailand". CNN. Retrieved 2025-03-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  51. ^ Parry, Richard Lloyd; Thurston, Joshua (2025-03-28). "Myanmar earthquake latest: tremors felt 640 miles away in Bangkok". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  52. ^ "မန္တလေး၊နေပြည်တော်၊ စစ်ကိုင်းတို့ရှိ ဆေးရုံများတွင် ငလျင်ဒဏ်ကြောင့် ဒဏ်ရာရရှိလူနာများပြားနေပြီး သွေးအလှူရှင်များလိုအပ်နေ" [Hospitals in Mandalay, Nay Pyi Taw, and Sagaing are experiencing a high number of earthquake-injured patients and are in need of blood donors.]. Eleven Media Group (in Burmese). 28 March 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  53. ^ "กทม.ประกาศเขตประสบสาธารณภัย ระดับ 2 หลังแผ่นดินไหว". www.thaipbs.or.th (in Thai). Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  54. ^ "'India stands ready to offer all help': PM Modi as strong quake jolts Myanmar, Thailand". The Indian Express. 2025-03-28. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
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