Myanmar quake: Death toll surpasses 10,000, experts issues warning

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has issued a red alert, predicting massive fatalities, structural damage, and financial losses in the affected regions across.

Earlier, Diaspora Digital Media (DDM) reported that 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Sagaing region on Friday, March 28, 2025.

Myanmar’s military-led government reported over 1,000 deaths and 2,000 injuries.

USGS estimates suggest fatalities could reach between 10,000 and 100,000 victims.

A powerful 6.7-magnitude aftershock struck shortly after, and experts have warned that more tremors are likely to follow in coming days.

Financial damages from the earthquake may run into billions of dollars, further worsening Myanmar’s fragile economy, which has already been struggling.

USGS said rescue efforts remain difficult due to weak infrastructure, ongoing civil war, and lack of emergency services in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup.

Bill McGuire, a professor at University College London, described the earthquake as the strongest Myanmar has experienced in nearly seventy-five years.

Rebecca Bell, a tectonics expert at Imperial College London, said the earthquake resulted from movements along the Sagaing Fault in Southeast Asia.

“The Sagaing Fault is long, straight, and allows large ruptures, which contribute to stronger earthquakes, causing significant destruction across affected regions,” Bell explained.

The earthquake was shallow, its energy does not dissipate, leading to severe ground shaking in heavily populated cities and rural communities.

Myanmar has experienced major earthquakes, including a 6.8-magnitude tremor near Mandalay in 1956, but urbanisation has worsened vulnerabilities.

“In previous earthquakes, Myanmar had mostly low-rise buildings and religious structures, reducing overall damage compared to the present disaster situation,” said Ian Watkinson.

Today, Myanmar has many high-rise buildings, making the earthquake the first real test of the country’s modern infrastructure against seismic activity.

Seismologist Brian Baptie from the British Geological Survey said over 2.8 million people live in the worst-hit areas across the country.

Many affected residents live in buildings made from unreinforced brick and timber, structures that are highly vulnerable to earthquakes and collapse easily.

Disaster expert Ilan Kelman emphasized that high casualties occurred because of poor enforcement of building regulations, making structures unsafe during earthquakes.

“Earthquakes don’t kill people; collapsing buildings do,” he stated, highlighting Myanmar’s failure to establish strict construction laws that could have saved lives.

The earthquake’s impact was also felt in Thailand, where a 30-storey skyscraper under construction in Bangkok collapsed, trapping several workers.

Christian Malaga-Chuquitaype, a civil engineering expert at Imperial College London, explained Bangkok’s soft soil amplified tremors, worsening structural damage across the city.

He warned that Bangkok buildings use “flat slab” construction, where floors are supported only by columns without additional beams, making them unsafe.

“This construction method performs poorly in earthquakes and often collapses suddenly, resulting in severe damage and loss of lives,” he explained.

Following the disaster, Bangkok authorities deployed over 100 engineers to inspect buildings after receiving over 2,000 damage reports from residents.

Rescue operations in Myanmar continue, with experts fearing the death toll will rise as more victims are recovered from collapsed buildings.

International aid has started arriving, but the scale of devastation means Myanmar faces significant challenges in recovering from the deadly earthquake.

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