The death toll from Myanmar’s powerful earthquake continued to rise on Sunday as international rescue teams and aid poured into the crisis-hit nation. Overwhelmed hospitals and resource-strapped communities struggled to carry out rescue operations.
The 7.7-magnitude quake, one of the strongest to hit Myanmar in a century, struck on Friday, killing around 1,700 people, injuring 3,400, and leaving over 300 missing, according to the military government. The U.S. Geological Service’s projections suggest fatalities could surpass 10,000, with economic losses potentially exceeding the country’s annual output.
The disaster has deepened Myanmar’s turmoil, which has been gripped by civil war since a 2021 military coup toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Widespread damage to critical infrastructure—including bridges, highways, airports, and railways—has hampered relief efforts. Meanwhile, the ongoing conflict has devastated the economy, displaced over 3.5 million people, and weakened the healthcare system.
Why was the earthquake so deadly?
Bill McGuire, an emeritus professor at University College London (UCL), told France24 that the recent earthquake was likely the strongest to hit Myanmar’s mainland in the past 75 years.
According to the US Geological Service (USGS), the 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck near Mandalay on March 28, 2025, was caused by “strike-slip faulting” along the boundary of the India and Eurasia plates.
Focal mechanism analysis indicates the rupture occurred on either a north-striking, right-lateral fault or a west-striking, left-lateral fault. The finite fault model supports the former, aligning with the right-lateral Sagaing Fault, which marks the boundary between the Indian and Sunda plates.
Unlike pinpoint locations on maps, earthquakes of this magnitude involve slipping over a broad fault area. The finite fault analysis suggests the rupture zone for this event measured around 200 km in length and 20 km in width.
Rebecca Bell, a tectonics expert at Imperial College London (ICL), also identified the quake as a strike-slip event along the Sagaing Fault. This fault, where the Indian and Sunda plates meet, is similar in scale and movement to California’s San Andreas Fault.
Bell noted that the Sagaing Fault extends 1,200 km (745 miles) in a straight line, which allows earthquakes to rupture over large areas. The greater the rupture area, the stronger the earthquake.
Earthquakes of this type tend to be highly destructive, as the rupture occurs at a shallow depth, meaning seismic energy dissipates minimally before reaching the surface, resulting in intense ground shaking.
The region has experienced several large strike-slip earthquakes, with at least six quakes of magnitude 7 or higher occurring within 250 km of this event since 1900. The most recent was a magnitude 7.0 quake in 1990, which caused 32 buildings to collapse. A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck south of this location in 1912, while a 7.7-magnitude quake in 1988 resulted in dozens of fatalities.
Roger Musson, an honorary research fellow at the British Geological Survey, echoed this concern, stating that the quake’s shallow depth of 10 km (6.2 miles) intensified the destruction. With little energy lost before reaching the surface, buildings bore the full force of the tremors.
Musson also emphasised that focusing solely on the epicentre is misleading, as seismic waves propagate from the entire length of the fault rather than a single point. Musson explained that these projections are based on past earthquake data, Myanmar’s geographic characteristics, and its preparedness for seismic events.
