Quake-hit Myanmar ‘sandwiched’ between tectonic plates
A local geologist says the tectonic plate movement that caused last week's earthquake in Myanmar was also behind the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that left over 200,000 people dead in Indonesia.
" Myanmar sits where four plates are boundary together, so it's Indian plates, the Eurasian plates, the Sunda plates, and then the Burma microplate, which is sandwiched between everything. So those, as they're moving the earth's crust, try to accommodate that movement by rupturing to produce fault," says Professor Andy Green.
A 7.7 magnitude quake struck Myanmar on Friday.
It was felt in neighbouring countries, including Thailand.
More than 2,000 people are so far known to have died, while rescuers are still working to rescue those trapped in rubble.
READ: Durban woman recounts Thailand quake ordeal
Green, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has been explaining the movement that triggered the disaster.
" We have the Indian plates, and that's being forced into the Eurasian plates, and that's what's producing the Himalayan Mountains. And then, at the same time, it's being pushed obliquely underneath this plate called the Burma Microplate.
"So that exact same process produced this earthquake as well as the fact that it produced the tsunami that occurred on Boxing Day of 2004."
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