WHY WAS THIS QUAKE SO DAMAGING?
Sagaing has been hit by a number of quakes lately, with a 6.8 magnitude occasion inflicting no less than 26 deaths and dozens of accidents in late 2012.
However Friday’s occasion was “in all probability the largest” to hit Myanmar’s mainland in three quarters of a century, stated Invoice McGuire, one other earthquake skilled at UCL.
Roger Musson, honorary analysis fellow on the British Geological Survey, informed Reuters that the shallow depth of the quake meant the harm can be extra extreme. The quake’s epicentre was at a depth of simply 10 km (6.2 miles), in keeping with the USA Geological Survey.
“That is very damaging as a result of it has occurred at a shallow depth, so the shockwaves are usually not dissipated as they go from the main focus of the earthquake as much as the floor. The buildings obtained the complete pressure of the shaking.”
“It is necessary to not be targeted on epicentres as a result of the seismic waves do not radiate out from the epicentre – they radiate out from the entire line of the fault,” he added.
