A CEREMONY to commence the Post-Earthquake Technical Fo­rum under the title of techni­cally reviewing post-earthquake con­struction and renovation process and preparing potential technical challeng­es in the future took place at Mingala Thiri Hotel in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning, with an address by Chairman of the State Administration Council, Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

The Senior General and forum par­ticipants observed a one-minute silence for the demise of monks and people in the devastating Mandalay earthquake to mark its fourth month of the incident.

They all viewed a video clip on the technical reviewing post-earthquake construction and renovation process, and preparing potential technical chal­lenges in the future.

Speaking at the forum, the Senior General said that the established infra­structure must meet earthquake-resist­ant standards and quality benchmarks in order to effectively protect the lives and property of the people from losses and damages.

The State has initially provided K500 billion as funding to support the reconstruction of homes and buildings of the people damaged by the disaster. In addition, a further K2 trillion is being provided to continue supporting recon­struction and rehabilitation efforts.

Due to the major Mandalay earthquake, he recounted that a total of 3,739 monks and civil­ians lost their lives. In terms of infrastructure damage, more than 50,000 residential homes were destroyed, along with roads, bridges, towers, schools, hospitals, religious buildings, and numerous factories and workplaces.

The Senior General stressed that many quake-af­fected countries, including Japan, China, and Indonesia, have been able to construct skyscrapers, high-rise build­ings, and advanced structures using high-quality construc­tion materials and advanced technology. As such, Myanmar has to consider how to build similar buildings like aforesaid countries.

The Senior General ex­pressed gratitude to all experts, professionals and technicians for their efforts in oversee­ing high-rise and public-use building projects, jointly con­ducting assessments, setting the level of damage based on a colour-coded system, and for­mulating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to guide the repair of earthquake and disaster-affected infrastruc­tures.

To ensure the proper im­plementation of standards in construction activities, he noted that as the Ministry of Construction, together with the Myanmar Engineering Coun­cil, the Myanmar Architects Council, the Federation of My­anmar Engineering Societies, the Myanmar Geosciences Society, the Myanmar Earth­quake Committee, and various urban engineering and earth­quake-related organizations, jointly coordinated efforts, the Myanmar National Building Code (MNBC), which was first issued in 2012, was revised and reissued once in 2016 and again in 2020.

He underlined that only when all levels of stakeholders within the construction indus­try including cement, iron, and steel material importers and sellers, local manufacturers, structural design profession­als, developers, contractors, supervising engineers, and quality inspectors—collabo­rate systematically and with awareness can the basic infra­structure we are responsible for building today ensure the safety of people’s lives and homes when facing future earthquake risks.

The Senior General em­phasized that the 2025 edition of the Myanmar National Build­ing Code (MNBC), developed based on the latest geosci­entific data from the recent major Mandalay earthquake, incorporates updated stand­ards and specifications that are adequate for potential fu­ture earthquakes. It includes more detailed and region-spe­cific seismic zone maps and an analysis of the modes of failure observed in buildings damaged during the earthquake. Moreo­ver, it introduces seismic load calculation methods tailored to different building types. As such, MNBC 2025 is expected to serve as an effective Earth­quake Resilient Design Frame­work for Myanmar.

At today’s Post-Earth­quake Technical Forum, he continued that participating experts have to engage in open and collaborative dis­cussions to identify practical solutions for constructing earthquake-resistant build­ings. The aim is to thoroughly examine the current state of the construction industry in the country and explore how to ensure full compliance with the established rules, regulations, and standards.

The Senior General urged government officials, engi­neers and architects from the private sector, developers, pro­ducers, importers, distributors, and sellers of construction materials, all stakeholders, to join work collaboratively in the Post-Earthquake Techni­cal Forum to create safe and secure basic infrastructure for citizens in the future, ensuring protection from hazards and peace of mind.

The Senior General pre­sented honourary documents of appreciation to chairs from the Myanmar Engineering Council, Myanmar Architects Council, Myanmar Engineer­ing Society, the Expert Com­mittee for the Supervision and Inspection of High-Rise and Public-Use Building Construc­tion Projects, the Myanmar Geosciences Society, and the Myanmar Earthquake Com­mittee.

Speakers and resource persons of papers to the fo­rum introduced themselves to the Senior General. The Sen­ior General visited the booths to mark the Post-Earthquake Technical Forum.

Also, present at the forum were SAC Vice-Chairman, Dep­uty Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win, Council Joint Secretary General Ye Win Oo, SAC members, union-level dignitaries, union ministers, senior Tatmadaw officers from the Office of the Command­er-in-Chief, deputy ministers, experts at home and abroad, chairs and members from the engineering and architectur­al related organizations, and guests.

The Post-Earthquake Technical Forum is organized with the objectives of technical­ly reviewing the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by the major Mandalay earth­quake and discussing solu­tions to proactively prepare for potential future technical challenges. It is reported that the forum will continue until 29 July. — MNA/TTA