The 1988 Myanmar–India earthquake, also known as the Indo–Burma earthquake struck the

Sagaing Region Sagaing Region (, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and longitude 94° 97' east. It is border ...

Myanmar 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 has ...

, about from the border with

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

on 6 August at 7:06 am MMT with a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

() of 7.3 or

Richter magnitude The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pres ...

() of 7.5. At least five people were killed, more than 30 were injured, and another 30 were missing as a result. Serious damage was reported in India and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, while some minor damage occurred in Myanmar. The earthquake was reportedly felt in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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 Oblique subduction is a form of subduction (i.e. a tectonic process involving the convergence of two Tectonic plate, plates where the denser plate descends into Earth's interior) for which the convergence direction differs from 90° to the plate b ...

of the Indian plate beneath Myanmar.

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 ...

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 7.0 1975 Bagan earthquake, 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.

Earthquake

The earthquake had an epicenter location in a remote and sparsely populated area, more than from

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

, Myanmar and

Shillong Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...

. Many small settlements however, including

Homalin Homalin or Hommalinn ( ; , ''Hungmaklang'') is a small town in north-western Myanmar (Burma) and capital of the Homalin Township and Homalin District of the Sagaing Region. The town lies on the Chindwin River and is served by Homalin Airport. The ...

Maungkan Maungkan is a village on the Chindwin River in Homalin Township, Hkamti District, in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Burma. It is located next to Chaungson and south of Tason. Gardens were planted in Maungkan and other nearby villages around ...

, Man Thi and

Kawya Kawya is a village on the Chindwin River in Homalin Township, Hkamti District, in the Sagaing Region of northwestern Burma. It is located north of the town of Homalin and south of Maungkan, about halfway. Gardens were planted in Kawya and other ...

were in close proximity to the location of the quake. West of where the earthquake nucleated, lies the

Chin Hills The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state. Geography The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, Nat Ma Taung, or Mount Victoria, in southern ...

Arakan Range The Arakan Mountains, natively referred as Rakhine Yoma () and technically known as the Southern Indo-Burman Range, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irra ...

, a mountain belt formed by the collision of the

and

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 ...

, similar to the

continental collision In geology, continental collision is a phenomenon of plate tectonics that occurs at Convergent boundary, convergent boundaries. Continental collision is a variation on the fundamental process of subduction, whereby the subduction zone is destroy ...

seen in the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

. The

focal mechanism The focal mechanism of an earthquake describes the Fault (geology)#Slip.2C heave.2C throw, deformation in the Hypocenter, source region that generates the seismic waves. In the case of a Fault (geology), fault-related event, it refers to the ori ...

of this event indicated oblique-reverse

faulting In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

at an intermediate depth of 90 km within the Indian plate.

Impact

Two people were killed, 30 were injured and another 30 were missing in

after

seiche A seiche ( ) is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, harbors, caves, and seas. The key requirement for formatio ...

s formed in the

Jamuna River The Jamuna River () is one of the three main rivers of Bangladesh. The two other major rivers in Bangladesh are the Padma and the Meghna. The Jamuna is the lower stream of the Brahmaputra River, which originates in Tibet as Yarlung Tsangpo, ...

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

, causing a

ferry boat A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus. ...

capsize Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is Turtling (sailing), upside down in the water. The act of reco ...

. An additional two lost their lives in Northern India. Large-scale landslides, fissures and liquefaction events were reported in India and Bangladesh.

Subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

of was recorded in

Gauhati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

, India. It was felt throughout Bangladesh and northeastern India, including

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

. The earthquake was also felt in parts of northwestern Myanmar and

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. Shaking from the earthquake caused significant damage to human infrastructures, railroads, and roadways. Shaking from the earthquake was felt throughout northeast India with a Modified Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). In

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, India, severe liquefaction severely damaged roads and bridges in the National Highway 37 system. Hotel Regale in

Silchar Silchar is a city and the headquarters of the Cachar district of the state of Assam, India. It is second largest city of Assam after Guwahati in terms of population and GDP. It is also administrative capital of Barak Valley division. It is locate ...

suffered extensive damage due to

liquefaction In materials science, liquefaction is a process that generates a liquid from a solid or a gas or that generates a non-liquid phase which behaves in accordance with fluid dynamics. It occurs both naturally and artificially. As an example of t ...

; subsiding floors and cracked walls. Many aged or traditional structures not made to withstand an earthquake were damaged beyond repair. A section of an embankment slumped away, leaving a railroad between Borlongphar and Langchiliet hanging 8 meters above the ground. On August 21 that same year, a smaller but deadlier magnitude 6.9 earthquake would affect the India and Nepal region, killing at least 721 people.

Tectonic setting

Earthquake

Impact

See also

References

Further reading