Nepal is planning to re-open the historical structures and monuments enlisted by the UNESCO as World Heritage sites to the tourists as well as the general public from August 17 as only 15 per cent of the sites have been damaged in the recent devastating earthquakes.The iconic Swayambhunath stupa in Kathmandu was relatively lucky in the aftermath of the devastating Nepal earthquake [Credit: Indian Express/ Abhimanyu Chakravorty]
The Hanumandhoka Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Swayambhunath, Bouddhanath, Pashupatinath, and Changunarayan area are the major sites visited by the tourists. The number of tourists arriving in the country has suddenly decreased in the aftermath of the earthquakes that claimed over 9,000 lives on April 24.
However, the government has made it clear that only 15 per cent of the world heritage sites were damaged by the earthquakes. The bodies concerned, who visited the sites to check their condition have claimed that they are not completely damaged, an official said.
The heritage sites are certainly affected by the quake and aftershocks but they are not completely ravaged as reported by a section of media, said Director General of the Department of Archaeology, Bhesh Narayan Dahal. Various government and non-government teams, in coordination with the local people, have been working to remove the rubble of the structures.
Meanwhile, two aftershocks were felt in Nepal today. A 4.5 magnitude tremor was recorded at 1.37 pm (local time) with epicentre at Sindhupalchowk district. Another 4.1 magnitude tremor was recorded at 2.45 am (local time) with epicentre at Sindhupalchowk district, according to the National Seismological Centre.
Swayambhunath — also known as the Monkey Temple, for its holy, furry dwellers that swing from the rosewood trees — is one of the oldest and most sacred Buddhist sites in Nepal's Kathmandu Valley, an important pilgrimage destination for Hindus as well as Buddhists. It was also one of the worst damaged by last month's earthquake.Buddhist monks recover a statue of a Buddhist deity from a monastery at Swayambhunath [Credit: Niranjan Shrestha/AP]
At the site, Nepali police soldiers shovel broken bricks and sand into garbage baskets. They're much more cautious cleaning up here than at many other devastated places: There's a chance they could still find precious, centuries-old statues and other artifacts in the rubble.
Volunteers stand precariously atop a two-story-high pile of crumbled bricks, scouring it for relics. A temple nearby, part of the site's hilltop complex, has big cracks and looks like it could topple and crush them at any minute.
This is dangerous, important work, says Nepal's undersecretary of the Department of Archaeology, Suresh Shrestha, who's peeled off his dust mask and is taking a break in the shade.
"There are so many artifacts because in Hinduism and Buddhism, there are lots and lots of gods and goddesses," he says.
Nepal's government says at least 70 ancient, sacred sites in the Kathmandu Valley were severely damaged or destroyed by the earthquake. The area is home to seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites; Swayambhunath is one of them.
With help from the United Nations, every ancient object that's found intact at the site from now on will be inventoried and stored in a secure place to protect from looters. Archaeologists fear that in the chaos following the quake, some artifacts were lost or stolen.
A Buddhist monk picks through a damaged monastery near the Swayambhunath stupa [Credit: Niranjan Shrestha/AP]
The oldest structure there, a Buddhist monument known as a stupa, dates from the fifth century. "It is intact," says Christian Manhart, UNESCO's country representative for Nepal. "We are lucky."
Manhart says it's difficult to know at this point how much of the Swayambhunath complex can be restored. But, he says, "I'm rather optimistic. We have all these architectural features like sculptures, carved wooden beams, cornerstones, which can be reused for construction."
Despite the damage, the most sacred rituals are continuing — including worship five times a day.
"We have [a] very big problem, but we do not stop the praying," says Ashok Buddhacharya, a priest who says his family roots at the temple extend back to the fifth century. "Ritual praying is continuing."
Buddhacharya sits on a mat underneath a large, blue tarp. It's where he and his wife and children and other families are cooking and sleeping, since their living quarters here were reduced to rubble.
"These are historical, more than 1,000 years old, the stupas, the metal things, the statues," he says. "We cannot make a repeat, you see."
That is, they can't just rebuild them.
That's why archaeologists feel a sense of urgency, here and at other sites, as they work around the clock to recover what they can.
Reduced to piles of rubble and splintered wood, Nepal's rich cultural heritage has suffered a devastating blow from a massive earthquake that tore through the country, experts said Sunday.Nepalese rescue members and onlookers gather at the collapsed Dharahara Tower in Kathmandu on April 25, 2015 [Credit: AFP/Prakash Mathema]
In the heart of Kathmandu, many of a cluster of temples and statues built between the 12th and 18th centuries by the ancient kings of Nepal have collapsed, killing scores and trapping others underneath.
The nine-storey Dharahara tower, a major tourist attraction in the city's Durbar square with its spiral staircase of 200 steps, was reduced to just its base when the 7.8-magnitude quake struck at lunchtime on Saturday.
"I had just bought tickets to climb the tower and was at its base when I felt a sudden shaking," Dharmu Subedi, 36, said from a hospital bed in Kathmandu.
"Within minutes, the Dharahara had crumbled to the ground with maybe more than 100 people in it," Subedi told AFP.
Durbar Square in Kathmandu, pictured on February 23, 2015 [Credit: AFP/Prakash Mathema]
UNESCO was trying to gather information on the extent of the destruction, including at three palace-filled squares in the cities of Patan and Bhaktapur, both former kingdoms in the Kathmandu Valley, as well as in Kathmandu.
"We understand the historic Durbar squares of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur have been badly damaged," Christian Manhart, UNESCO's representative to Nepal, told AFP.
"Several temples have collapsed. Two temples in Patan have been completely collapsed, and Durbar Square (in Kathmandu) is worse.
"Right now we are assessing the situation, and collecting information on what the damage is. All UN agencies have received a request from the (Nepalese) government for assistance," he added.
People clear rubble in Kathmandu's Durbar Square on April 25, 2015 [Credit: AFP/Prakash Mathema]
He said it was too early to talk about reconstruction of the monuments and how much assistance UNESCO could provide.
Manhart said his office was also trying to determine whether another UNESCO World Heritage site, that of Lumbini, the place where Buddha was born more than 2,600 years ago, had also been hit.
"We haven't received reports of severe damage in Lumbini, but we are still trying to collect information," he said of the site, some 280 kilometres (170 miles) west of Kathmandu.
'Irreparable loss for Nepal'
In Kathmandu, residents were seen clawing through the rubble, using their hands, buckets and shovels to try to find those feared trapped in Durbar Square, which had been crowded on Saturday with local and foreign tourists.
Kathmandu's Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was severely damaged by the Nepal earthquake on April 25, 2015 [Credit: AFP/Prakash Mathema]
Large piles of bricks, wooden beams and other debris were dotted throughout the historic square, where minutes earlier stood double-roofed temples and other monuments built by the Malla kings.
The monuments are the "social, religious and urban focal point of the city" which has a rich history of Hindu, Buddhist and Tantrism religion and culture, UNESCO says on its website.
"Kathmandu with its unique architectural heritage, palaces, temples and courtyards has inspired many writers, artists, and poets, both foreign and Nepalese," it says.
Expert P.D. Balaji cast doubt on whether the monuments could be completely rebuilt, saying television footage showed extensive damage.
A Nepalese man cries as he walks through the earthquake debris in Bhaktapur, near Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunday, April 26, [Credit: AP/Niranjan Shrestha]
"What I can say is that it's an irreparable loss for Nepal and the rest of the world," Balaji, head of the history and archaeology department at the University of Madras, said.
"Complete restoration is not possible on account of the extensive damage to the historical sites in Nepal."
According to UNESCO, "two catastrophic earthquakes" in 1833 and 1934 led to some monuments in the Kathmandu Valley being rebuilt.
