Pakistan, March 29 -- The earth shook violently along the Myanmar-Thailand border on Friday, claiming 144 lives, injuring hundreds, and reducing villages to rubble. As survivors dig through debris with bare hands, one truth screams louder than the aftershocks: This tragedy was not merely inevitable. It was preventable.

Southeast Asia's seismic fragility is no secret. The region sits atop volatile tectonic boundaries and has endured repeated disasters. Yet despite decades of warnings, governments treat preparedness as an afterthought. In Myanmar's hardest-hit regions, homes still crumble like sandcastles because building codes exist only on paper.

Climate change amplifies the carnage. While tectonic shifts trigger quakes, human-driven en...