Myanmar-Thailand Earthquake Devastation, Heartbreaking Video

As a former resident of Thailand, the Myanmar earthquake that caused massive devastation in both countries was particularly heartbreaking. 

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Myanmar Earthquake Rattles Southeast Asia

On Friday, March 28th, 2025, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar devastating the area and causing severe damage, death, and destruction in both Myanmar and Bangkok, Thailand some 680 miles from the epicenter. Effects of the earthquake could be felt all the way to Europe.

“The country’s death toll from the disaster soared to 1,644.

The figure was a sharp rise compared to the 1,002 announced just hours earlier, highlighting the difficulty of confirming casualties over a widespread region and the likelihood that the numbers will continue to grow from Friday’s 7.7 magnitude quake. The number of injured increased to 3,408, while the missing figure rose to 139.” – AP

Aftershocks continued to rumble with large effect.

“The earthquake’s epicentre was located 16km (10 miles) north-west of Myanmar’s city Sagaing, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

This is also near Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, with a population of about 1.5 million people – and about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

The first earthquake struck at about 12:50 (06:20 GMT), according to the USGS. A second earthquake struck 12 minutes later, with a magnitude of 6.4. Its epicentre was 18km (11 miles) south of Sagaing.

Aftershocks have continued since – the latest on Sunday was a magnitude-5.1 tremor north-west of Mandalay, with a resident telling BBC Burmese it was the strongest they had felt since 28 March.” – BBC Burmese

Fighting among separatists and the Myanmar government has paused to enable relief efforts.

Heartbreaking Videos

In Bangkok, rooftop pools, restaurants, and night clubs are everywhere. Videos of those pools emptying their contents over the edge of the building and spilling onto the street below (at high velocity and volume) was terrifying from the pool and from the ground.

A 30-story building under construction crumbled to the ground. A crane was operating at the time and sadly had an operator thrown from the crane as the building shook before collapsing.

And the devastation in Myanmar was perhaps even more dramatic with older buildings that were not developed to the same design codes.

Personal Reflection

Thailand is personal for myself and my family. We love it there, we travel there often, and we moved their for a year-long sabbatical more than a decade ago when I began writing my travel blog. Thailand is such a welcoming country with friendly people, great food, high luxury from Bangkok skyscrapers but also a real sense of community at the street level.

I understand that a 7.7 magnitude earthquake is a substantial event, but it took place almost 700 miles away and I am shocked by the fragile condition of some of the high rise buildings in the city. I expected those buildings, even those that were being built (one would assume to the highest current safety standards) to fare better than they did.

For the first time, my wife and I had to answer the question, “what would we do if we were in one of those high rise hotels?” We haven’t needed such a plan heretofore and wouldn’t have thought modern buildings would be in such a condition.

However, I have the highest confidence that officials in Thailand will be effective in their judgement, inspection, and recondition of buildings that need to be more secure.

Conclusion

Thailand and Myanmar will rebuild but they can’t replace the loss of life. The lack of confidence and concern the earthquake caused may also have a lasting effect. For Myanmar, rebuilding will take longer due to the lack of infrastructure, business, and investment. Thailand will be faster and sturdier in its repairs, but it also has more to lose and must restore confidence to maintain its tourism and commercial presence.

What do you think?