Rescue workers survey damage to Myanmar’s famous 1000-year-old Bagan pagodas after quake wrecks temple walls and spires
At least 185 brick pagodas in Bagan were damaged from Wednesday’s powerful earthquake
Officials picked through the wreckage of toppled spires and crumbling temple walls in Myanmar’s ancient capital Bagan Thursday after a powerful earthquake rattled the top tourist destination, leaving three dead.
Police blocked tourists from entering Bagan’s vast field of some 2,500 Buddhist monuments - among the country’s most venerated religious sites - as workers cleared piles of bricks and swept the grounds.
“I heard sounds after I paid homage at a pagoda. There were foreign tourists there as well,” said Khin Maung Toe, a Myanmar man who was visiting Bagan for the first time when the earthquake struck.
“My wife barely escaped outside as the pagoda collapsed,” he said.
Officials said the quake damaged at least 185 pagodas - many around 1,000 years old - at the site, which is a top attraction for foreign tourists flocking to the country as it emerges from decades of military rule.