The Role of Social Media in Earthquake Awareness and Earthquake Preparedness in Myanmar

Abstract

Myanmar is an earthquake-prone country in SE Asia and all types of faulting such as strike-slip, normal, and reverse are occurring all over Myanmar territory. Apart from surface faults, the India oceanic plate is subducting obliquely beneath Burma continental plate along Sunda subduction zone. The interaction between the India plate, the Burma plate and Eurasia plate appears to be characterized by the initiation of major movements between plates switching from one to another within this tectonic region. The Sagaing Fault is a primary plate boundary between the Burma plate and Indochina plate along which most of the relative motion has occurred and will continue to occur for the geologic future. According to seismicity record in Myanmar, most of the earthquakes occurred either in the evening or at midnight or at dawn. So the people become scary because earthquake occurs without warnings. During such situation, people run immediately outside the building to the open space due to people’s survival instincts. People have anxiety which is a normal response to frightening situation. The social media interviews the earthquake researchers/ earthquake geologists why the earthquake occurs and how to protect them during earthquake. By disseminating the information on social networks, people become aware of the earthquake disaster and become focusing on effective preparedness.