Update: April 1, 2025
Since our initial report on the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, the death toll has risen dramatically. As of the latest updates, 2,719 people have been confirmed dead, with thousands more injured and many still unaccounted for. Most of the missing are presumed to have perished in the disaster.
The significant cuts to USAID under the Trump administration appear to have severely hampered the U.S. disaster response efforts in the wake of this catastrophe. As of March 31, three days after the earthquake, no U.S. teams were deployed on the ground, underscoring the immediate impact of these cuts and the reduced capacity of U.S. disaster aid teams to effectively respond to international crises.
According to reports, numerous Buddhist monuments, stupas, pagodas, monastic schools, nunneries, and monasteries have been severely impacted by the earthquake. Notably, the historic Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery in Mandalay and the 200-year-old Me Nu Brick Monastery have been destroyed in the disaster.
March 28, 2025
Myanmar was hit earlier today by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake — felt also in Thailand, China, India, and Vietnam. A quake of this size is of course never good, but as Amnesty International’s Myanmar expert Joe Freeman says, this “could not come at a worse time” for the country, as “over a third of the population will need humanitarian assistance this year [while] impacts of US aid cuts are just starting to bite.”
At least 150 people have died, and 732 injured, with rescue operations continuing in Bangkok and elsewhere. “The scale of the damage,” reports The Guardian, “is yet to become clear, though social media footage emerging from central regions has shown many buildings collapsed or damaged.” The U.S. Geological Survey, reports The New York Times, has estimated that the death toll is likely to surpass 1,000. The quake’s epicenter was near Mandalay, with that city and Sagaing taking on a great deal of damage. Even the famed Bagan temples, near Sagaing, have been further compromised after first sustaining significant damage in 2016’s earthquakes there.
The British Red Cross has launched a Myanmar Earthquake Emergency Fund; you can contribute to it here:
https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/myanmar-earthquake-emergency
