The March 28 Snap: Road to Mandalay
This is not about that famously moving work ‘The Road Past Mandalay’ by John Masters, the British Army Officer while he was serving in…
The March 28 Snap: Road to Mandalay
This is not about that famously moving work ‘The Road Past Mandalay’ by John Masters, the British Army Officer while he was serving in India. Or that compelling sonnet by Rudyard Kipling about the same place that earned fame during the WW II. It is definitely not about any of that. Those were different kettle of fish. Might take up about them, some other time, though.
This piece, I write, also not because my country was the First Responder with number of Naval Ships and planeloads worth of Army and Air Force personnel with hundreds of tons of help landing in Indo-China within hours of a tragedy, without the latter countries soliciting any help from the former. (similar assistance was rendered by India earlier in many other countries as well, over these past few years.)
This is about something; terrifying and tragic. Those heart-rending events of 28 March 2025, which occurred in Myanmar and Thailand that morning and afterwards for about three days.
I would still not have written anything on that because there are numerous others whose job it is to narrate such tales. My reason for taking it up did also not happen just because I am an Earthquake Engineer with reasonable experience in the related field. My sole reason for writing this here on The Medium is because someone shared this short video clip (right here-in-below) about that event with me on the Social Media a little while ago. And, I just could not hold myself back…
https://youtu.be/B09qFuvdgxs *
*Kind Courtesy ‘abc 7’ Channel.
And that event happened catching everyone by surprise. A massive one at that; magnitude 7.7. Followed by aftershocks of 6.4 magnitude on the Richter’s Scale. Unparalleled tragedy in Myanmar and some sizeable effects as far as Bangkok, all this happened for just about a minute’s duration. Trust me, even a minute also appears longer than a lifetime when The Mother Earth shakes as violently as it did that March day.
*Kind Courtesy ‘YouTube’.
Epicentre about 15 km West of ‘Mandalay’.
The skeptics and experts alike were struck too, for they did really not know what had hit them. Stories/reports began appearing in the media in the immediate aftermath of that event. Why here? After all this region was not prone to major earthquakes!. Perhaps forgetting or being ignorant that Dien Bien Phu Fault (DBPF) Zone in Vietnam may not be, geologically or geographically speaking very far from Mandalay, where on the morning of 28 March 2025 it occurred.
Coincidence of diabolical proportions though, that the Road to Mandalay was destined to bear the brunt of this catastrophe. And sadly regain its ‘lost fame’.
Road to ‘Mandalay’… this still remains a Road, though.
Incidentally the 2.5 mm per year of shift along this DBP Faultline is quite substantial. Only that the shift along the Eurasian Plate with the Indian Plate is higher than this in the Asian region (latter moving at 5 cm per year in the NE Direction). With the Himalayas rising and Indian region buckling under the subduction, new fault-lines must be developing in the planes & peninsular India, resulting in number of earthquakes in the recent past where none had occurred, earlier. Similar tectonic events are gradually albeit very slowly, occurring at newer places all over the world. Please recall that ‘under the sea earthquake’ of December 2004 near Indonesia and its effects in entire South Asia, including huge Tsunami.
Once the dust settles on this Myanmar-Thai tragedy, scientists and engineers from across the Globe shall surely ascertain its causes & effects. But, little use for those who have lost their…everything?!
As an Earthquake Engineer with some amount of information and knowledge, one can state with conviction that we had, scientific analysis notwithstanding, better made friends with the earthquakes, the most potent force the Mother unleashes on us mortals. Unless that happens, more tragedies, Gods forbid, are only waiting to happen.
The devastation in major earthquakes of magnitudes, say 6.0 and above, is quite substantial, specially right above the Focal Point or closer to the Epicenter. If the focal point of the earthquake be shallow, as this one appears to be, damage is much more. And that is what these pictures/videos from Myanmar and few from Bangkok, where a tall under construction building just came crashing down reminding of 09/11, tell us. (Irrespective of what journalists write/speak for whatever’s sake, with best of intent, the building in Bangkok, whilst still under construction, must have come down simply because hundreds of tons of concrete may not have even got enough time to get properly set and gain adequate strength. And the shaking of earth brought it down in an instant. Sad though..).
*Courtesy, YouTube.
I have added these few pictures and videos obtained from YouTube and/or websites (with due courtesy) only for information sake. My main concern, nevertheless, remains as to how to minimise the loss of life and reduce loss of property, if possible, in the future events.
Searching for life where none might exist…because one cannot lose hope even in the face of such gigantic adversity.
Total loss…in Myanmar.
Few suggestions, not that these aren’t known.. but no harm absolutely in reiterating the same:-
- Let us all, at least be informed that earthquakes can strike anywhere, any time. Mostly in early hours of the day, for some strange reason.
- We should educate our people, however slow that process might be, right from school time, as to how to try save ourselves from the effects of earthquakes. In any case if a building full of people collapses, as was the case in Myanmar, little that anyone can do; training, teaching or information sharing, notwithstanding.
- We develop/deploy some kind of fore-warning systems as exist in many countries now. Famous one being that at Acapulco, Mexico. After all, we need just about 10–15 minutes to vacate any building. Thereby minimising loss of precious human lives.
- Architectural beauty and ingenuity apart, we should design and construct buildings with tad more care than we are doing at present.. across the board. Please remember why so much of devastation occurred in Turkey only a year ago; poor quality construction work.
- Whichever country we are in, especially in the developing world, we must store adequate quantities of requisite materials at different/suspect places, to be utilised in such events. It is being done in many countries to ensure help reaches the needy, the fastest.
That video of the nurses staying with infants in cribs while the building is shaking violently, can be a lesson for we, the engineers, administrators, doctors, the politicians and whoever else. We must treat our people well, because we owe it to them. This can be done with stricter regulations, meticulous discharge of duty by the concerned, some amount of fore-thought and empathy for human life. Less of corruption will certainly do as well.
Earlier, there were almost no records of such major events. But, over the past about 150 years or so, countries have been maintaining records which can be shared with all. Thereby assisting in spread of awareness.
We cannot prevent earthquakes from occurring for that is the way the earth’s crust is, cracking all the time (with high temperatures underneath the cooler crust). But we can definitely minimise its devastating consequences, almost everywhere.
Partially and fully damaged buildings in Myanmar. (Courtesy Google).
Devastation at Angkor
If I am allowed to digress a bit, (Angkor being my Alter Ego) and I have mentioned that at various places in some of my other pieces as well, that earthquakes may have also been one of the causes of extensive damage to the Angkorean Temples. Widespread devastation in Myanmar might point in that direction. Only that people at Angkor in that era may not have had enough records of the past events.
Lessons Learnt
None…
There can truly speaking be, none. Except for what I have tried to mention here-in earlier. Awareness, fore-warning and better designed & executed buildings as the only ways to minimise ill-effects of earthquakes.
For, where will the next snap occur and when? Will those in positions of power remember the effects of the previous event(s). And care enough to take corrective actions? Will those occupying the buildings remember what to do in case of such events? Complacency does set in, for how many see two major quakes in a life time? Their frequency being as stochastic or random as the Seismogram of a major earthquake itself.
Of course, unless you are in California or in Japan. Or Mexico etc where it has become habit to be aware of earthquakes. They have laid down drills in place which are meticulously rehearsed by all. They design buildings accordingly to resist earthquakes of even major magnitudes. All that, nevertheless, has also not been able to prevent major tragedies as happened in Japan on 11 March 2011 during that under sea event of 9.0–9.1 magnitude. And the devastation that followed.
Yes, Prayers are also needed, for ultimately we all turn to… Him, when in need.
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