The military council is pressuring media outlets to rename the major earthquake that struck near Sagaing city as the ‘Mandalay Earthquake.’ Military council spokesperson Zaw Min Tun announced that the earthquake should only be referred to as the Mandalay Earthquake. However, the earthquake actually occurred with its epicenter near Sagaing city and was caused by the Sagaing fault line.
The earthquake struck on March 28 at 12:50 PM, with its epicenter located 16 kilometers northwest of Sagaing city at a depth of 10 kilometers underground, measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale. The earthquake caused significant casualties and destruction across Sagaing, Mandalay, Naypyidaw, and central Myanmar regions. To date, more than 3,500 people have been confirmed dead, with thousands more injured in the disaster.
According to both domestic and international seismology experts, the earthquake was definitively caused by movement along the Sagaing fault line and had its epicenter near Sagaing city. Despite this scientific evidence, the military council has unilaterally decided to rename it as the Mandalay Earthquake. Furthermore, they are now pressuring and threatening media outlets to comply with their designated naming convention. This attempt to change the earthquake’s name goes against established scientific facts about its location and origin. The military council’s spokesperson has explicitly demanded that media outlets refer to it only as the Mandalay Earthquake in their reporting, demonstrating another instance of the regime’s attempts to control information and narrative surrounding significant events in the country.
