Myanmar was hit by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday, March 28. The provisional toll is of at least 1,600 people killed and more than 3,000 injured. The tremor was felt as far away as Bangkok, where it also caused deaths and panic.

At a time when international aid is being organized to deal with the considerable damage caused in this country weakened by years of civil war, Le Monde interviewed Yann Klinger, National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) research director in the tectonics team at the Institut de Physique du Globe. For this seismologist, who has worked extensively on movements of the Indian plate and faults on the Chinese continent, this is a major event for Myanmar.

Due to its position at the junction of two tectonic plates, the country is regularly hit by powerful earthquakes. There have been over 14 with a magnitude of 6 or more in the last century, including one of magnitude 6.8 near Mandalay. Klinger pointed out that this fault had already ruptured in 1839, creating an event of the same magnitude as the Friday quake.

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