The magnitude 7.7 earthquake that hit Burma on Friday March 28 and in particular the city of Mandalay (7 million inhabitants) made many victims but also damaged the heritage. The Burmese authorities reported about 2,900 dead and 4,600 injured. These figures are still temporary and could increase.
The government of Myanmar (the official name of Burma) said that nearly 3,000 buildings have been damaged, including 150 mosques and pagodas, mainly in Mandalay the ancient capital founded in the 19th century, and in Rangoun in the south of the country, founded in the 6th century and capital of the country from 1853 to 2005.
Among the destruction identified are a watchtower, part of the surrounding wall and the Royal Mandalay Palace dating from the 19th century, erected under the first Burmese Dynasty Konbaung. The Hsinbyume pagoda, dating from 1816, as well as the Mandalay Sanamuni Pagoda were also damaged.
The 200-year-old naked brick monastery, located southwest of Mandalay, was allegedly destroyed. Not far from there, south-east of the city, the Tower of the Pagoda Schwe Sar Yan, an important place of Buddhist culture dating from the 17th century, collapsed. West of Mandalay, the New Masoeyein monastery, a five -story high, would also have collapsed. In Pindaya, several stupas (a specific monument to Buddhism) were destroyed. Photos taken by theAssociated Press show damaged pagodas in the country’s administrative capital, Nay Pyi Taw.
It is not yet known if the Buddhist temples of Bagan, a site listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site dating from the ninth century, located 16 km from the epicenter, were affected. Even if some media report it, no certified image confirms this information. In Bangkok, the World Monuments Fund confirmed that the Wat Phoic Buddha, dating from the 18th century, had undergone some damage.
Since the 2021 coup, during which the military junta led by Min Aung Hlaing overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the country has been at the civil war. The resistance forces, including the government of national unity (NUG) and various militias, share around half of the territory, the junta retaining the control of large agglomerations. If the NUG has declared a unilateral ceasefire after the earthquake, the military junta continued its attacks, especially in the states of Shan and Sagaing, hampering rescue operations.
The conflict has weakened the country’s infrastructure, including health systems, to the point that the head of the junta launched a rare call for international aid. As part of international mobilization, more than 1,000 foreign rescuers arrived in Burma to support local services. The rescue operations made it possible to rescue around 650 people from the rubble, reported theAFP.
Access to information is difficult, however. The military junta notably requires regular internet cuts and fire covers. It is therefore difficult to determine the real scale of the disaster.
As explained to Figaro Nathalie Feuillet, professor of geophysics at the Institute of Physics of the Paris Globe (IPGP), the earthquake in Myanmar would be comparable to that of Kahramanmaras, which rocked Turkey in February 2023 and made nearly 55,000 dead. In 2016, Burma had already experienced an earthquake of magnitude 6.8, which had caused a few dead and damaged several pagodas in Bagan.
