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

• 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 — at least five days before other outlets, including the BBC, announced the arrival of the “first foreign reporter in Myanmar.”

• 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. ​

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.
Broadcast by more than 300 channels worldwide, AFP’s footage from Naypyidaw reached audiences across the globe.

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.
AFP’s coverage from Mandalay was widely broadcast around the world, airing across over 310 channels.

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.
Broadcast almost 2,000 times across more than 290 channels worldwide, AFP’s footage documented one of the most emotional rescue operations following the disaster.

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

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