Myanmar: Earthquake damages 200 pagodas

Myanmar took stock of toppled spires and crumbling temple walls in the ancient capital Bagan Thursday after a powerful earthquake hit the country, killing three and damaging the top tourist destination.

Two young girls and a man died in Magway region where the 6.8 magnitude quake struck Wednesday evening, cracking buildings across the centre of the country and sending tremors that were felt as far away as Bangkok and Kolkata.

On Thursday, Myanmar’s new civilian President Htin Kyaw travelled to Bagan — the country’s most famous archaeological site — to inspect some of the nearly 200 pagodas damaged by the quake.

The ancient city is home to a vast plain of more than 2,500 Buddhist monuments that are among Myanmar’s most venerated religious sites and a top draw for its growing tourism industry.

Teams of government-dispatched engineers and architects spent the day surveying the wreckage, while workers cleared piles of bricks, swept the grounds and sorted through fragments of murals.

“We will take experts’ opinions and then try to see what is the best way to restore it. But it will be a very lengthy process and quite expensive,” the President told reporters after visiting several of the damaged stupas.

Zaw Htay, a government spokesman, said Myanmar’s de facto leader and veteran democracy activist Aung Sang Suu Kyi has urged authorities “not to rush” in renovating the damaged temples. “The police are taking measures to prevent the loss of our ancient heritage and cultural art works,” he added in a statement on Facebook.

Bagan’s sweeping expanse of centuries-old ruins — which make for a staggering sunset vista — have survived wars, earthquakes and tropical sun.

In the city’s heyday, between the 9th and 13th centuries, it was the capital of a powerful kingdom and one of Asia’s most important centres for learning.

“It’s really heartbreaking. I cannot even eat,” said Tin Hla Oo, a trustee of the three-story Htilominlo pagoda, which was badly damaged by the quake.

“We are suffering because this is a great loss, as these (pagodas) are priceless.”