The 2025 Sagaing earthquake, Myanmar

Strike-slip rupture on the Sagaing Fault

The Sagaing Fault runs almost straight north to south through the middle of Myanmar, where the Indian plate slides past the Sunda plate. Strain built up over decades was released in one long rupture on 28 March 2025. Because the movement was horizontal and shallow, intense shaking reached the surface directly beneath some of the country's biggest population centres.

Cities built beside the fault

Mandalay, Sagaing and the capital Naypyidaw all sit close to the fault line, and the epicentre was only about 10 miles from Sagaing city. Millions of people therefore lived inside the zone of strongest shaking, in brick and concrete buildings that were rarely designed with earthquakes in mind, so the ground motion translated directly into collapses.

A country weakened by conflict

Myanmar's civil war had already displaced more than 3.5 million people and left nearly 20 million needing help before the earthquake. Hospitals lacked supplies, many roads and airports were damaged or controlled by armed groups, and the government distrusted outside agencies. The quake struck a state with very little capacity left to absorb another emergency.

Primary

• By early April 3,471 people were confirmed dead in Myanmar, with 4,671 injured and 214 missing.
• State media reported some 5,223 buildings damaged, along with schools, hospitals, bridges and sections of the main highway.
• In Bangkok an unfinished 30 storey tower collapsed, killing construction workers.
• Roads, bridges and airports in the Mandalay and Sagaing regions were damaged, cutting routes into the quake zone.

Secondary

• Survivors slept in the open for weeks, and early unseasonal rain soaked the camps and raised the risk of disease.
• Power, water and phone networks failed across the affected regions, slowing rescue work.
• Damage to clinics and hospitals left injured people travelling long distances for treatment.

Social

• Hundreds of thousands of people lost their homes on top of the 3.5 million already displaced by the civil war.
• Thousands of pagodas, temples and mosques were damaged or destroyed, striking at the centre of community life.
• Families spent weeks searching for missing relatives as bodies were recovered from collapsed buildings.

Economic

• Reconstruction costs landed on an economy already shrunk by four years of conflict.
• Markets, workshops and farms in the Mandalay and Sagaing regions lost buildings, stock and irrigation channels.
• Trade slowed because sections of the main north to south highway and key bridges were unusable.

Environmental

• Ground rupture and landslides scarred the fault zone for hundreds of kilometres.
• Debris from thousands of collapsed buildings had to be cleared and dumped around cities.
• Damage to dams and irrigation channels raised fears of flooding and water shortages in farming areas.

Immediate

• The military government made a rare appeal for international help, and rescue teams arrived from China, Russia, India and Southeast Asia.
• China pledged 100 million yuan and the United States pledged at least 9 million dollars in aid.
• A temporary ceasefire was declared to let relief convoys move, although the UN documented continuing attacks.
• Local volunteers dug survivors from rubble by hand in Mandalay and Sagaing during the first days.

Long term

• Aid agencies moved from rescue to providing shelter, clean water and disease prevention in camps through the rainy season.
• Rebuilding of homes, schools and hospitals began slowly, held back by conflict and shortages of money and materials.
• Engineers and seismologists surveyed the rupture to improve understanding of the hazard along the Sagaing Fault.