A new report by the Burma Human Rights Network says the 2025 earthquake damaged 180 Islamic religious buildings and at least 670 Muslims died in their collapses.
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck central Myanmar on March 28, 2025, during Friday prayers in Ramadan. The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) says buildings in 29 townships were affected. Mandalay suffered the most damage, with 149 Islamic structures reported damaged. BHRN cautions that access problems, disrupted communications and missing records may mean its figures do not capture the full scale of losses.
The report says restrictions on building and repairing mosques have lasted for decades and tightened after the 2021 military coup. Muslim communities spent years seeking permits to repair buildings with leaking roofs, weakened columns and deteriorating walls. By September 2026, more than 70 mosques in Mandalay had applied for repair permits, but only four had received approval, the group said.
BHRN also cites reports of worshippers still using temporary prayer spaces more than a year after the earthquake. The organization said it did not have enough information to make a comprehensive numerical comparison of restoration work at Buddhist and Muslim religious sites. It called for direct financial, engineering and legal support for Muslim communities to assess building safety and repair or rebuild structures to withstand earthquakes.