MANDALAY, MYANMAR – July 28 ,2025
For the first time in history, scientists have obtained direct video evidence of how the Earth’s surface moves during a major earthquake, thanks to a serendipitous CCTV recording during the powerful Magnitude 7.7 temblor that struck central Myanmar on March 28, 2025. The footage not only captures the ground tearing apart in real time but also reveals a previously unconfirmed phenomenon: a distinctly curved fault slip.
The earthquake, which rocked the Sagaing Fault near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, was a strike-slip event where two blocks of the Earth’s crust slid horizontally past each other. While such surface ruptures are known to occur during large quakes, direct video observation of this scale has eluded seismologists until now.
A security camera, positioned approximately 20 meters from the Sagaing Fault’s trace and about 120 kilometers south of the earthquake’s hypocenter, provided the invaluable 26-second recording. Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan, led by geophysicist Jesse Kearse and his colleague Yoshihiro Kaneko, meticulously analyzed the footage using pixel cross-correlation techniques to track the ground’s movement frame by frame.
Their analysis, published recently, reveals astonishing details: the fault slipped a remarkable 2.5 meters (over 8 feet) sideways in a mere 1.3 seconds, reaching a peak velocity of 3.2 meters per second. This “pulse-like rupture,” where seismic energy propagates as a concentrated burst along the fault, had been inferred from distant seismic data but never directly witnessed.
Even more groundbreaking was the discovery of the curved fault slip. “Instead of things moving straight across the video screen, they moved along a curved path that has a convexity downwards,” stated Kearse. This observation provides the first direct visual confirmation of a phenomenon long hypothesized from geological evidence, such as “slickenlines” – the scrape marks found on fault surfaces that often show a curved pattern.
The video corroborates mechanical models that link rupture propagation direction to near-surface slip curvature. The Myanmar earthquake’s rupture is known to have traveled from north to south, a direction consistent with the observed curvature in the video. This alignment strengthens scientists’ confidence in using geological evidence to reconstruct the rupture direction of ancient earthquakes.
The Sagaing Fault, stretching over 1,200 kilometers from north to south, is one of Southeast Asia’s most active and hazardous fault lines, capable of generating earthquakes exceeding Magnitude 7.5. The March 28th earthquake caused extensive damage in Myanmar and was felt as far away as Thailand and China.
This unprecedented footage offers a new and powerful tool for seismologists. By directly observing fault motion up close, researchers can gain a deeper understanding of earthquake processes, including how ruptures initiate, propagate, and the specific ground motions they generate. This invaluable data is expected to significantly advance our ability to model and potentially anticipate the ground shaking associated with future large seismic events, ultimately contributing to better hazard assessments and disaster preparedness.
