Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page A8

August 25, 2016

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » World

Myanmar quake damages 60 pagodas

Source: AFP | August 25, 2016, Thursday | Print Edition

A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Myanmar yesterday, killing at least one person and damaging around 60 pagodas in the ancient city of Bagan, officials said.

The quake, which the US Geological Survey said hit at a depth of 84 kilometers, was also felt across neighboring Thailand, India and Bangladesh, sending panicked residents rushing onto the streets.

At least one man was killed in Magway region where the quake struck, said Han Zaw Win, a local MP from Pakokku township. “A 22 year-old man was killed when a nearby building collapsed during the earthquake,” he said, adding that a woman was also injured.

A local official reported heavy damage to several temples in Bagan — Myanmar’s most famous archaeological site and a major tourist destination some 30km north of the quake’s epicenter.

“About 60 pagodas in Bagan were damaged. Some were seriously damaged,” said Aung Kyaw, the director of Bagan’s culture department.

A tourist police officer from Bagan confirmed the damage and said a Spanish tourist was slightly hurt when the quake knocked her from the temple where she was watching the sunset.

Scaling Bagan’s ancient Buddhist monuments to watch the sunset over the city’s 2,500 temples is a daily ritual among tourists and local pilgrims who flock to the site.

The temples, built between the 10th and 14th centuries, are revered in the Buddhist-majority country.

Myanmar, which has opened its doors to a rising tide of visitors since emerging from junta rule in 2011, is eager to see the ancient capital designated as a UNESCO world heritage site.

The USGS estimated that the earthquake’s impact would be “relatively localized” but noted that many buildings in the region are “highly vulnerable” to shaking.

World


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend