Major Earthquake Strikes Central Myanmar, Death Toll Rises Past 500

MANDALAY, Myanmar — The quake hit just after noon on 28 March 2025, when markets were crowded and offices full. In seconds, whole blocks collapsed. The Irrawaddy River bridge twisted. A 90-year-old pagoda crumbled into brick and dust. By nightfall, the official death count stood at 144. Within 72 hours, it had passed 500 and was still climbing.

The epicentre was in Sagaing Region, just north of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city. The US Geological Survey registered the earthquake at 7.7 magnitude, with a depth of only 10 kilometres, meaning the shaking at the surface was especially violent. Strong tremors were felt in Bangkok, more than 1,000 kilometres away, and as far north as China’s Yunnan province.

Damage was concentrated in Mandalay, Sagaing, and parts of the capital Naypyidaw, where the military government has its sprawling administrative complex. Several government buildings there suffered structural damage, though the junta’s leadership was reported safe. In Mandalay, the collapse of a residential high-rise and a monastery school accounted for many of the dead. Rescue workers described pulling bodies from the rubble with their bare hands in the first hours, lacking heavy equipment and electricity.

Myanmar’s military government, which has ruled under a state of emergency since seizing power in 2021, rarely asks for outside help. This time, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing made an appeal on state television, citing the scale of the disaster. A request was sent to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United Nations. Aid organisations scrambled to respond, but damaged roads, buckled bridges, and ongoing fighting between the military and ethnic armed groups hampered access to the worst-hit areas.

The earthquake hit a country already deep in crisis. The February 2021 coup triggered widespread armed resistance, and the military has responded with brutal force. More than three million people are internally displaced. The health system is in tatters. International sanctions have isolated the junta, but humanitarian exemptions were swiftly activated after the quake.

The aftershocks continued for days. On 30 March, a 6.4-magnitude tremor sent people in Mandalay fleeing into the streets again. Officials warned that the final death toll would likely exceed 1,000 once remote areas were reached. In the meantime, families dug through debris alone.