The 1975 Bagan earthquake occurred on July 8 at 6:34 pm local time (12:04

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

) in Bagan, Myanmar. Many important

stupas In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

and temples were destroyed. The strongest intensity was felt in the towns of

Nyaung-U Nyaung-U () is the administrative town of Nyaung-U Township of Nyaung-U District in the Mandalay Region of central Myanmar. It lies on the eastern bank of Ayeyarwady River. It is just 4 kilometers away from old Bagan Bagan ( ; ; formerly ...

Pakokku Pakokku (, ) is the largest city in the Magway Region of Myanmar. It is situated about 30 km northeast of Bagan on the Irrawaddy River. It is the administration seat of Pakokku Township, Pakokku District and Gangaw District. Pakokku Bridge ...

, and

Yesagyo Yesagyo () is a town in the Magway Division in Myanmar (Burma). It is situated on the Chindwin River, near the site where it flows into Irrawaddy River. It is the principal town and administrative seat of Yesagyo Township.Yesagyo is a second big ...

, and in the

Myaing Myaing ( ) is a town and seat of Myaing Township in the Magway Region of central Myanmar. Transport It was connected to the Myanmar Railway network in 1998. See also * Transport in Myanmar References Township capitals of Myan ...

townships on the confluence of the

Ayeyawady River The Irrawaddy River (, , Ayeyarwady) is the principal river of Myanmar, running through the centre of the country. Myanmar’s most important commercial waterway, it is about 1,350 miles (2,170 km) long. Originating from the confluence of the ...

. Damage was also reported in

Chauk Chauk () is a town and river port in Magway Region, north-central Myanmar (Burma), on the Irrawaddy River. It is located across the river from Seikphyu (ဆိပ်ဖြူ) and is connected by a bridge. It is the capital of Chauk District H ...

and

Natmauk Natmauk () is a town in Magway District, in eastern Magway Region of Myanmar, on the Yin River. It is the administrative seat of Natmauk Township. Natmauk is famous for being the birthplace and hometown of the Burmese independence hero, Bogyoke ...

townships. It had a magnitude of 7.0. Art historians rank the archeological treasures of Bagan (formerly called Pagan) with the renowned temple complex at

Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed ...

or with the European artworks of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

. The earthquake "irreparably damaged many of the great temples of Bagan, an artistic landmark of Asia and the center of the Burmese national culture."An Earthquake in Burma Ravages Ancient Shrines
by Henry Kamm, The New York Times, July 24, 1975 Burma's Director General of Archeology said the earthquake the worst in the last 900 years of recorded history. The source of the earthquake is still controversial because of uncertainties in the depth information ranging from 84 to 157 km.

Subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

and collision of the

India Plate The Indian plate (or India plate) is or was a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana and ...

and the

Burma plate The Burma plate is a minor tectonic plate or microplate located in Southeast Asia, sometimes considered a part of the larger Eurasian plate. The Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, and northwestern Sumatra are located on the plate. This island ar ...

is ongoing and this earthquake was on the interface of these two plates.The Bagan Earthquake (1975)
by Tint Lwin Swe, Myanmar Earthquake Committee

Tectonic setting

Myanmar lies at region where the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

and

Eurasian Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents dates back to antiq ...

plates collide; with the Burma plate wedged between. The north-northeast motion of the Indian plate towards the Eurasian plate has resulted in the formation of two major plate boundaries along the Burma plate; the

Sagaing Fault The Sagaing Fault is a major fault in Myanmar, a mainly continental right-lateral transform fault between the Indian plate and Sunda plate. It links the divergent boundary in the Andaman Sea with the zone of active continental collision along t ...

to the east, and a complex

convergent boundary A convergent boundary (also known as a destructive boundary) is an area on Earth where two or more lithospheric plates collide. One plate eventually slides beneath the other, a process known as subduction. The subduction zone can be defined by a ...

accommodating oblique subduction of the Indian plate beneath Myanmar.

of the Indian plate occur along the Arakan Megathrust; the northern continuation of the

Sunda Megathrust The Sunda megathrust is a fault that extends approximately 5,500 km (3300 mi) from Myanmar (Burma) in the north, running along the southwestern side of Sumatra, to the south of Java and Bali before terminating near Australia. It is cap ...

; capable of generating an earthquake greater than magnitude 8.0. The 8.5–8.8 Arakan earthquake of 1762 is believed to be a thrusting earthquake on the Arakan Megathrust. Intermediate-depth intraslab earthquakes occur as a result of faulting within the subducting Indian plate beneath the Burma plate. These earthquakes have hypocenter depths that range from to greater than . Earthquakes including the 7.3

1988 Myanmar–India earthquake The 1988 Myanmar–India earthquake, also known as the Indo–Burma earthquake struck the Sagaing Region of Myanmar, about from the border with India on 6 August at 7:06 am MMT with a moment magnitude () of 7.3 or Richter magnitude () of 7.5. A ...

, as well as the

April April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Its length is 30 days. April is commonly associated with the season of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the ...

and

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...

earthquakes of 2016 were associated with intermediate-depth intraslab activity. The 1988 earthquake is the largest known intermediate-depth event in Myanmar.

Earthquake

The earthquake occurred as a result of either reverse or normal faulting at an intermediate depth within the subducting Indian plate beneath the Burma plate. Faulting within the Indian plate at such depth are due to intraplate compression or extension acting on the slab, where faults accommodate the stresses. Earthquakes occurring within the Indian plate could be traced up to 200 km beneath the crust.

References

External links

* * {{Earthquakes in 1975 Earthquakes in Myanmar 1975 earthquakes Bagan 1975 in Burma 1975 disasters in Burma July 1975 in Asia