Cleanup starts after 200 temples damaged

Using brooms and their hands, soldiers and residents of an ancient Myanmar city famous for its historic Buddhist pagodas began cleaning up the debris on Thursday from a powerful earthquake that shook the region and damaged nearly 200 temples.

At least four people were killed and as many as 185 brick pagodas were damaged in Bagan after a magnitude-6.8 quake struck the area on Wednesday.

Bagan, also known as Pagan, is one of Myanmar’s top tourist attractions, draw- ing visitors from all over the world who can view a panorama of temples stretching to the horizon flanked by the Irrawaddy River.

Maria Gomez, a Portuguese tourist, said she was walking to the river to watch the sunset when “we felt the earth moving. Everybody was very scared and everybody was shouting”.

“Only after maybe 30 seconds we realized what was happening,” she said.

Bagan is home to more than 2,200 structures, including pagodas and temples constructed from the 10th to the 14 th centuries. Many are in disrepair while others have been restored in recent years.

Zaw Naing, a caretaker at one of the city’s pagodas who paints and sells his work to tourists, said he was saddened by the damage — but also worried the quake could endanger the livelihood of many who live there.

“I’m very worried. ... There will be less tourists to Bagan,” Zaw Naing said. “I have three children to take care of.”

Huge clouds of dust

As he spoke, soldiers and residents who work in the area could be seen picking up broken red bricks with their bare hands and stuffing them into sacks. Others swept walkways leading to temples that had been engulfed in huge clouds of dust when the tremor struck; the iconic tips perched on the top of some of the pagodas had collapsed.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was “saddened” by the loss and damage and expressed condolences to the “people and government” of Myanmar.

Vincent Panzani, a staff member in Pakokku for the aid agency Save the Children, said several of his colleagues from the area described the earthquake as the strongest they have experienced.

“We felt quite heavy shaking for about 10 seconds and started to evacuate the building when there was another strong tremor,” he said in comments sent by email. “Most of the reports of damage have been to the pagodas in the area with dozens impacted.”