Extremely Rare Video Shows the Earth Being Violently Torn Apart During an Earthquake

First of Its Kind

A striking video captured in Myanmar during March's devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake shows what scientists believe may be a first-of-its-kind recording of a surface fault rupture, the visible point where the ground over a major faultline splits apart, in action.

The video, which went viral on Reddit earlier this week, shows the moment as the Earth begins to quake. A gate flies open as cracks emerge in the cement of what appears to be a driveway; a massive fissure appears in the ground beyond the gate, and the right half of the visible landscape slides backwards. Dust rises as the ground continues to move and stretch in the distance.

According to Live Science, the recording was captured at the Green Power Energy Solar Project in Tha Pyay Wa, Mandalay, a solar energy power plant.

"To my knowledge," Rick Aster, a geophysicist at Colorado State University, told Live Science, "this is the best video we have of a throughgoing surface rupture of a very large earthquake."

Strike-Slip

Myanmar sits over the Sagaing Fault, a major Asian fault line. The Sagaing Fault is a strike-slip fault, meaning that the tectonic plates beneath the Earth's surface move horizontally against one another.

"The actual segment of the Earth that is slipping side to side goes from the surface down to maybe [12 to 19 miles] depth," Aster told Live Science.

"I have no doubt that seismologists will take a very close look at this," he added. "It will probably lead to some kind of a publication at some point, if the location and other details can be sorted out."

Official death counts vary, but recent United Nations (UN) estimates say that the high-magnitude earthquake claimed over 3,800 lives and left thousands of others injured in its wake. Thousands of homes, businesses, and other structures were destroyed, including historic and culturally significant religious sites, according to The New York Times.

The situation is still dire. Myanmar is ruled by a military junta and was already in the midst of a brutal civil war and large-scale humanitarian crisis when the earthquake hit. And now, with the region's monsoon season quickly approaching, the UN is warning that families and towns will face the threat of landslides and floods.

More on natural disasters: NOAA Will Stop Tracking Weather Disasters Because Trump Doesn't Believe in Climate Change

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