Unique footage captured during a powerful earthquake in Myanmar on March 28 may be the first video evidence in the history of science of an instantaneous rupture of the Earth’s crust at the surface. The 7.7 magnitude earthquake killed more than 5,500 people and was felt even in neighboring Thailand. However, the most attention was drawn to the surveillance video that captured the ground literally tearing and shifting.
The video was posted on Facebook by Singaporean engineer Htin Aung. The filming took place at GP Energy Myanmar’s Thapyawa solar plant near Thazi. The footage shows the metal gate shaking, and after 14 seconds, a deep crack about 5-7 meters wide forms in the road and yard. The soil is parting, demonstrating the extent of the tectonic changes.
“It’s really kind of unsettling, to my knowledge, this is the best video we have of a throughgoing surface rupture of a very large earthquake,” said John Vidale, a seismologist at the University of Southern California.
The event occurred on the Sagaing Fault, a transform zone where the Burma and Sunda plates move in parallel, similar to California’s San Andreas Fault. The epicenter was north of the shooting site, near Mandalay.
Such footage will be key for researchers who typically analyze the effects of earthquakes through GPS measurements and field studies. “We still don’t fully understand the dynamics of these processes. Video can reveal new details,” Aster emphasized.
If the place and time of recording are confirmed by special expertise, the unique footage may form the basis of scientific publications, changing the idea of the behavior of faults during catastrophes.
Earlier we reported on how the Maxar satellite showed the terrible consequences of the devastating earthquake in Turkey.
According to Live Science
