A devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar, resulting in over 1,644 fatalities and countless injuries, with tremors extending to south-western China. Footage from CNN depicted nurses in maternity hospitals desperately holding onto newborns as the building shook violently during the quake.
According to Beijing’s foreign ministry, there were no reported fatalities among Chinese citizens. Myanmar’s military government has confirmed the death toll exceeds 1,600, yet experts warn the actual number could be significantly higher, potentially surpassing 10,000 as search and rescue efforts unfold amid ongoing assessments.
This quake, described as Myanmar’s most powerful in a century, unleashed energy equivalent to about 334 atomic bombs, according to geologist Jess Phoenix. Another seismologist likened the earthquake to a “great knife cut into the Earth,” emphasising its severity.
James Jackson from the University of Cambridge elaborated that the earthquake involved a rupture lasting a full minute, generating horizontal movement on the ground. He explained the rupture resembled a piece of paper tearing at approximately two kilometres per second. Despite its catastrophic impact, measures to monitor seismic activity had indicated this event was not entirely unexpected, as noted by Shengji Wei from the Earth Observatory of Singapore.
In response to the devastation, a Chinese team has been deployed to assist in ongoing rescue efforts in Myanmar. The full extent of the damage remains unclear, but the humanitarian implications are expected to unfold in the weeks ahead.