Bagan to make temples quake resistant

BAGAN, 9 January 2017: Myanmar Earthquake Committee will check that pagodas in ancient Bagan, Nyang U district, Mandalay Region can withstand future quakes.
The ancient pagodas were severely damaged during an earthquake last August.
Now the priority is to restore the damaged pagodas and ensure they are earthquake proof as far as possible. The region around Bagan is prone to earthquakes.The one that hit the region 24 August, last year, damaged 258 famous temples, 104 pagodas and 13 brick monasteries. MEC will lead the assessment activity in cooperation with Myanmar Engineering Society, local news reports stated. According to the restoration plan, major restoration work on 89 quake-damaged pagodas and Buddhist temples in Bagan will start this month.
In the first phase, the work will focus on 36 pagodas including Bagan’s well-known Sulamani and Ananda temples.
Restoration of 53 other important monuments will take place in the second stage.
The entire project will take five years and will require fund raising from the private sector.
Bagan is an ancient city located in Mandalay Region, built between the 9th and 11th centuries, during an era when some 55 Buddhist kings ruled the Bagan Dynasty.
Myanmar’s World Heritage Site Committee plans to nominate the Bagan Archaeological Zone for UNESCO’s World Heritage list in 2017, for consideration at the agency’s annual convention in 2019.
Bagan welcomed about 250,000 tourists in 2015 and it is expects visits to the ancient city could reach 500,000 by 2018.

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