Death Toll Could Hit 10,000 – Here’s Why Myanmar 7.7-Magnitude Earthquake So Damaging

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Death Toll Could Hit 10,000 – Here’s Why Myanmar 7.7-Magnitude Earthquake So Damaging


March 29th, 2025 by financetwitter



From a monastery that turned into rubble in a village in Myanmar to a 33-story tower under construction that collapsed in Bangkok, Thailand, a major 7.7-magnitude earthquake near Mandalay has left a trail of destruction. Even water from the rooftop of the five-star Hotel Intercontinental in Bangkok was seen splashing out, hitting dozens of floors before falling onto the streets below.

Initially, the death count on Friday was 144 people and 732 people injured. But that data from Myanmar’s military government did not include Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-biggest city. Less than 24 hours after the deadly earthquake – the largest to hit the Southeast Asian nation in more than a century – the toll has spiked to 1,002 people, before climbing to more than 1,600.

The last earthquake of a similar magnitude happened in 1912 in Taunggyi, a city in east-central Myanmar. The air traffic control tower at Myanmar’s Naypyitaw International Airport collapsed as a result of the earthquake, killing all staff on duty. There is no official help from the state administration and people are relying on one another for help.


The fact that Myanmar’s junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, was quick in making a rare call for international assistance speaks volumes about the level of damage incurred by the disaster. Not only the military regime was ill-equipped and incompetent, the country that has been plagued with a bloody civil war since 2021 has little resources to deal with a disaster of such magnitude.

There’s a good reason why the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the death toll could hit 10,000. While Thailand appears to “have returned to normalcy”, the nightmare has just begun in Myanmar. Formerly known as Burma, survivors have been digging through the dirt with their bare hands to try and rescue those still trapped under rubble, hampered by shortages of heavy machinery.

In many “Little Myanmar” across the Southeast Asia nations, Burmese workers or migrants spent sleepless nights trying to contact their family’s safety – worsened by Myanmar’s notorious unstable internet and power outages. Some have launched fundraising campaigns to support victims back home. Likewise, foreigners in Myanmar were struggling with communication due to unstable internet connections.


A Chinese team was the first international rescue group to reach Myanmar’s biggest city Yangon. Beijing will also provide 100 million yuan (US$13 million) worth of humanitarian aid to Myanmar. Russia was quick to follow China in deploying its own team of specialists, including dog teams, anesthesiologists and psychologists. Neighbouring India has also sent a rescue and medical team.

Many people are still trapped, but there is no help coming just simply because there isn’t manpower or equipment in Mandalay – the ground zero and the city of around 1.5 million people. It is the former royal capital, filled with historical architecture and cultural treasures. But most could have been destroyed after the 7.7-magnitude quake that struck on Friday unleashed the energy equivalent of 334 atomic bomb explosions.

Aid organizations said that it was difficult to assess the full scope of damage in many parts of Myanmar because electricity and communication lines were down. In addition, the junta, who has ruled Myanmar oppressively since 1962, has repeatedly shut off the internet and cut off access to social media, isolating the country. The crackdown on internet access, intended to stifle dissent, is making it difficult to coordinate the delivery of aid.


Communication blackouts and breakdown is just one of the problems. Mandalay General Hospital said that so many people had arrived for treatment that nurses had run out of cotton swabs and that even surgeons or doctors had nowhere to stand. Dr. Kyaw Zin said – “More injured people keep arriving, but we do not have enough doctors and nurses,”

Making matters worse, the bloody 4-year civil war has left nearly 20 million of the country’s roughly 54 million people without enough food or shelter. Even before the quake, Myanmar’s health care system had been pushed to its limits. The brutal junta has cracked down on doctors and nurses, who have been at the forefront of a civil disobedience movement opposed to the regime.

Myanmar is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a health worker, according to the New York-based Physicians for Human Rights. It was already bad that the country has limited resources such as medical supplies and heavy machinery to tackle the scale of the disaster. It becomes worse after damage to roads and bridges makes transporting aid “even harder and more complicated.”


“The full extent of destruction caused by this earthquake may not be clear for weeks,” – said Mohammed Riyas, the International Rescue Committee director for Myanmar. The biggest reason why it is so damaging is because this earthquake and its aftershocks were relatively shallow – about 10km in depth. That means the impact on the surface is likely to have been more devastating than a deeper earthquake.

Even if international assistance could flow into Myanmar, one of Asia’s poorest nations, the junta may block humanitarian aid to areas where its opponents are active. Agencies that are delivering aid must obtain travel authorisations from the military, which has in the past been repeatedly accused of blocking humanitarian aid.