The dust from the devastating earthquake Friday was still churning in Myanmar when an existential question swirled into the mix: Could this fatal clash of tectonic plates, which added yet another layer of trauma to a country already plagued by civil war, also portend the demise of Myanmar¡¯s ruling junta?

The earthquake, known to have killed at least 1,000 and probably many more than that, struck a day after Myanmar¡¯s military regime celebrated the country¡¯s 80th Armed Forces Day with a parade in Naypyitaw, the capital purpose-built by a previous group of generals.

The sequence of events was hard to ignore.

Omens and rumors have long been prized in an authoritarian country with little free flow of information. When the ruling generals grabbed power four years ago, they sealed off the country and reverted to a reverence of superstition and propaganda. And earthquakes do figure into astrological almanacs that are well thumbed in Myanmar. A popular version states that an earthquake in March signals the destruction of cities, while one in July is an augury of kings and rulers deposed.

The junta¡¯s stronghold remains in the cities, like in Mandalay, the second-largest in the country and one of the hardest hit by the earthquake. Marlar Myint, 89, said this was the worst natural disaster she had ever experienced. A retired school principal, she is not waiting until July to cast her prediction.

¡°We have a saying that a massive earthquake like this is nature¡¯s way of punishing a cruel and corrupt ruler,¡± she said. ¡°After killing so many people, Min Aung Hlaing is now facing the judgment of nature.

¡°Even the bones of those he murdered are trembling,¡± she added.

Since Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing overthrew Myanmar¡¯s elected government in 2021, civil war has flared in this Southeast Asian country. The majority of territory is now in resistance hands, with the military fortified in the big cities. The junta has terrorized civilian areas with airstrikes outpaced in recent months only by those rained on the Gaza Strip.

The Myanmar rebels ¡ª an unwieldy assortment of ethnic minority militias, opposition politicians and tech-savvy youth who are honing drone warfare out of jury-rigged parts ¡ª have fought hard with little international support. The Myanmar military is bleeding soldiers, with desertion rife. Still, it is punishing jungle warfare, and both sides are desperate for an exit.

And as people in Myanmar on Saturday surveyed the aftermath of the earthquake, with screams from those trapped under the wreckage still echoing through towns, the full extent of the devastation is only beginning to take shape.

Ko Kyaw works in Singapore, part of the large diaspora of young, educated people from Myanmar...