Why was the earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand so destructive?
A magnitude of 7.7 in Mykomars is tremendously shaken and likely to cause great damage due to lack of buildings to tolerate folds
A resident leads things on the waste next to a damaged building in Naypyidaw, 28 March 2025, after an earthquake in Myanmar.
Sai Aung Main / AFP via Getty Images
On March 28, in the local noon season, the tens of tens of Southeast Asia broke the ground below the foot. A magnitude of 7.7, located 12 kilometers from Mandalay, Myanmar, the regions caused the regions to peel the ancient pagodes, bridges and houses. Whole neighborhoods were destroyed in seconds.
Hundreds of nuclear weapons released the energy of the earthquake. “The magnitude of this event was so high in the surrounding countries,” he says Amilcar Running-CallsEarthquake Scientist Vicente Rocafuerte Guayaquil University Sea Ecuador. A 30-story skyscraper in Bangkok-600 kilometers from the epicenter of Quakedissolving. According to calculation According to the US Geological Survey, thousands, thousands of thousands, if they are not dead, as well as tens of financial damage.
Many factors conspired this earthquake to be disaster, including quake-proof measures in regional buildings. Few structures could suffer this monster of a folder, “low earthquake, superficial”. Occurred quite close to the surface of the earth. Judith HubbardEarthquake scientist at Cornell University.
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What caused myanmar earthquake?
About 45 million years ago, the Indian tectonic plaque collided with the Eurasian dish before the first starts down below. The central crust is now what we mention with Himalayas. This mountain range and the entire region, which fills the breakdowns generated by this epic geological Pilp. The Indian plaque goes very slowly to Eurasia, and many breakdowns take a lot of stress. Occasionally, they make breaks.
The year of March 28 was mainly fracture in Garganu, during a specific offering. “All available data suggest a fracture in the saga failure so far,” says Robin LacassinEarthquake scientist at the Earth’s Institute of Physics in Paris. It is an important north-south “Strike-slip” faultHe goes one of the two blocks of the crust (like St. Andreas of California). SAGEA’s mistake “is the main strike-slip limit on that side of the Indian plate,” Lacassin says. And in the past it has been a responsible for many strong and destructive earthquakes. “
Cars pass the affected road in Naypyidaw on March 28, 2025, after an earthquake in the middle of Myanmar.
Sai Aung Main / AFP via Getty Images
Hubbard pointed out in May 2023, broke the same mistake and created 5.8 Vibrationcaused a modest level of destruction. Errors are particularly dangerous, at least not because Pyi Taw, the capital Myanmar, is directly located.
The current Magnitude 7.7 fracture was exponentially stronger than the 2023 event. Earthquakes are measured Change the intensity of Mercalli Scale, which measures the intensity of shake-based observations. Next to the epicenter, almost a million people felt like X, or “violent” scale: many buildings were not only damaged, but they also changed along with its foundation.
Farther away from the epicenter, shaking “severe” or “very powerful”, and the Thai audience were surprised by seeing the buildings to see damage. Preliminary data suggest that the seismic waves traveled from the source so far, as they focused on the Saga Failure section. “This would explain the damage to Bangkok and complained that he felt very far,” says Carrera-Cevallos.
Why was Myanmar earthquake so damaged?
Such earthquakes are mentioned to be “natural” that cannot be “natural”. Today’s earthquake was strong, yes, but the explosion cities did not have the opportunity to have a decisive human factor. “This earthquake did not happen in an area Buildings resistant to earthquake And inappropriate building codes, “says Carrera-Cevallos.
If you can’t ensure that a building is designed to keep against the earthquake, you can adapt the slowders to its architecture, in a safe way to “swing” in the case of a tolerance. Even older structures to access various forms of irrigated technology.
The damage in Thailand are shocking, but they will hardly be serious. Shake was less than Myanmar, and he was building a higher skyscraper that has fallen in Thailand, so it’s probably the outside. “We look forward to much worse in Myanmar,” Hubbard says.
Myanmar is Political situation will work against recovery efforts. In 2021, a military blow and the Civil War had already relocated millions of people from their homes. This box will invigorate this figure incredibly, an increase of a wide humanitarian crisis. Strong afords will shake cities, villages and towns for several weeks, they still hinder safe chaotic chances of recovery.
