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AFP’s coverage of the 2025 Myanmar earthquake and its consequences

Discover the story

Behind the news

  • More than 100 videos published in the weeks following the March 28 Myanmar earthquake.

  • AFP was reporting live on the very day of the earthquake.

  • A team of six full-time video journalists (two in Myanmar, four in Bangkok), supported by freelancers, ensured continuous coverage.​

  • 43 live broadcasts from Myanmar and 122 live broadcasts from Bangkok on the collapsed site. ​

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A monk walks past a collapsed building in Mandalay

Mandalay, Myanmar. © Sai Aung Main / AFP


Telling the story in images

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A rescue worker walks past heavy construction equipment being used to clear rubble

AFP footage that shaped global coverage

On March 28, the day a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar, AFP journalists in Naypyidaw documented a stream of wounded victims arriving at the capital’s main hospital, where medical teams were forced to treat casualties outside after parts of the emergency department collapsed. The footage captured the immediate chaos and human toll of one of the deadliest earthquakes to hit the country in decades.

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An earthquake survivor is carried as she waits to receive medical attention

Mandalay, Myanmar. © Sai Aung Main / AFP

The day after the earthquake, AFP teams in Mandalay followed rescuers searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings as emergency workers desperately called out for survivors trapped beneath the debris.

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People search through the debris of a destroyed building as they look for survivors in Mandalay

Mandalay, Myanmar. © Sai Aung Main / AFP

More than 30 hours after the earthquake, AFP journalists captured the dramatic rescue of a woman pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed apartment building in Mandalay. It took hours of relentless work for rescuers to carry 30-year-old Phyu Lay Khaing from the debris on a stretcher before reuniting her with her husband and transferring her to the hospital.

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Phyu Lay Khaing is rescued from the rubble of the collapsed Sky Villa Condominium apartment building

Mandalay, Myanmar. © Sai Aung Main / AFP


From broadcasters to YouTube: the reach of AFP footage

AFP footage was widely reused by leading international media on YouTube.

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People clear debris of a damaged Buddha statue at Lawkatharaphu pagoda in Inwa

Mandalay, Myanmar. © Sai Aung Main / AFP

Additionally, videos related to the earthquake and published on AFP’s two main YouTube channels gathered nearly 700k views


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