Dr Luigi Di Sarno, is a Reader in Resilient & Sustainable Infrastructure in the University's School of Engineering.
Earthquakes are among the deadliest of natural global threats to society, responsible for the majority of disaster-related deaths and financial losses in the past decades.
According to a recent financial report issued by Munich Re, an international insurance company, an analysis of the 10 largest earthquakes from 1980 to 2024 revealed extensive overall economic losses of on average US$65.8 billion (inflation-adjusted), with 21% insured losses. Thus, earthquakes generate catastrophic financial impacts on communities globally. This is exacerbated in low-income regions, e.g. in Asia and Central and South America.
On 28th March 2025, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the metropolitan area of Mandalay (the second largest city of Myanmar), and surrounding countries in South Asia. The catastrophic event occurred at about lunch time (06:20:54 UTC) during Friday prayers in these nations. It killed at least 5,300 people in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar, injured thousands more, and left hundreds missing. The fault rupture that generated such a large quake was about 400km long, as also confirmed by satellite data. The maximum acceleration measured at ground level was above 0.6g, i.e. more than half the acceleration of gravity.
What was unusual and striking about the 28th March 2025 earthquake is that its significant impact extended well beyond Myanmar's borders. Many will have seen the progressive collapse of the high-rise building under construction in Bangkok for State Audit Office in Chatuchak district, killing 29 workers, as well as several rooftop swimming pools dramatically sloshing in that city - all of this happening some 620 miles (1,000 km) away from the epicenter in Mandalay.
Earthquake effects were also felt in Vietnam (particularly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City) plus Southwestern China (Yunnan province), which are also all far away from the epicenter region. Such evidence is due to the physical phenomenon of seismic waves travelling through soft soil, e.g. soft marine clays, which form the shallow geology of many regions that surround Myanmar. The presence of soft soils amplifies the seismically-induced damaging effects in areas where buildings were not constructed by utilizing earthquake design. Structures and infrastructure without seismic resistance do not possess adequate resilience to ensure full-functionality and prevent occurrence of either widespread damage or system collapse. This is a wake-up call for cities with high-rise buildings and critical infrastructure that are not designed to withstand earthquake loadings.
As a structural engineer with extensive experience studying the effects of earthquakes on built assets worldwide, I have first-hand knowledge of the above-mentioned challenges. I was brought in to help the Haitian government prepare for future earthquakes after the devastating 2010 disaster, which claimed 200,000 lives.
Since then, I have been contributing as Expert Member of the Disaster Management Advisory Group (DiMAG) of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), which is the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO), to foster the implementation of earthquake resilience for health-care facilities and critical infrastructure, especially in the Caribbean and South America regions.
Based on the 7.7-magnitude earthquake of the 28th March 2025 in Myanmar, it is instructive to focus on a few key implications, as reported herein.
Such implications are also of paramount importance for the Civil Infrastructure Research Cluster that I am leading in the School of Engineering at the University of Liverpool.
Last year we hosted a PhD student from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, as part of an ongoing research exchange programme, who benefitted from training in earthquake engineering received while being with us in Liverpool.
A critical question that we need to consider at this stage is "Do we live in safe tall buildings, even if they are located in non-seismic areas?".
Based on evidence collected in the aftermath of the recent Myanmar earthquake, countries and large metropolitan areas, such as Bangkok and Hanoi, may not be located on fault lines, yet they are prone to experience significant tremors, which can generate widespread damage or collapses.
This is particularly true for medium-to-high rise buildings which tend to resonate with the dynamic response of soft soil deposits.
Thus, lessons learned from the 28th March 2025 earthquake of 7.7-magnitude demonstrate that tall buildings will require resistance to horizontal shaking induced by earthquakes.
There are direct implications for several (mega-)cities around the world where skyscrapers are still booming, e.g. Doha, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Suzhou, Miami, New York, among others, even if they are located in regions with low seismic hazards. This underscores the need for stronger structural safeguards, even in areas traditionally considered low-risk.
There are a number of techniques and technologies that can be utilized to mitigate the earthquake effects on tall buildings. These are based essentially on vibration controls and rely on robust engineering mechanisms, such as tuned-mass dampers (large mass placed on top of buildings to dampen vibrations) and supplemental damping (braces installed along the height of structures to lower lateral sway), etc.
Such technologies can also be used to mitigate multi-hazard effects, e.g. strong winds and traffic-induced ground-borne vibrations. They are mature technologies and reliably effective, but require adequate design.
As a member of DiMAG, I have proposed the use of the above technologies, especially for tall buildings that are used either as critical facilities, e.g. health care, or for hotels and tourism accommodation. Such an approach is aligned with the initiative that was fostered by several international organizations to guarantee "Safe Tourism".
The recent earthquake in South Asia has also shown that adequate training and expertise are fundamental. As personal testimony, a recently graduated PhD student, jointly supervised by Chulalongkorn University in Thailand and the University of Liverpool, is in Bangkok surveying several buildings to assess the impact of the 28th March 2025 earthquake.
In a personal communication, the PhD graduate noted significant benefits from training received in earthquake engineering and disaster preparedness while seconded to Liverpool through research exchange.
Currently, the doctoral graduate is providing technical services to check the safety of buildings in Bangkok which were affected by this devastating earthquake. An evident case of the impact we generate through our applied collaborative research and global partnerships.
