The minister of Mandalay Region has suggested finding a new location for visitors to watch sunsets from in Bagan after an earthquake last month damaged hundreds of pagodas and stupas and injured a Spanish tourist who climbed one of the sites.
“I think we have to arrange a place to watch the sunset,” Dr. Zaw Myint Maung told 7Day. “It should not be allowed to watch sunsets from pagodas. We have to arrange a place to watch sunsets because we can’t thoroughly check how much pagodas shook during the earthquake.”
The 6.8 magnitude earthquake damaged some 400 structures late last month and killed at least three people, though the victims were not in Bagan. It should also be noted that the tourist who was injured wasn’t watching the sunset as the earthquake happened a few hours before.
The clean-up and restoration at the ancient site, which dates to the 10th century, is ongoing.
Watching the sunset in Bagan is a must-do for tourists, but after a party was held atop one of the pagodas earlier this year, authorities banned climbing on them.
They quickly amended the ban to exempt five popular sites.
“Every visitor wants to watch the sunset. The president also mentioned this,” Zaw Myint Maung was quoted as saying. “It was luck that only a Spanish woman was wounded. If the earthquake would happen around 6pm, there will be more injured people.”
Daw Sanda Khin, the chairperson of the Myanmar Cultural Heritage Trust, told Coconuts Yangon in a phone interview on Wednesday that not all needed to be off limits.
“It’s okay to climb some pagodas, those that have a core in the middle and have enough strength. But if there is valuable artwork in that pagoda, it should be in the restricted list.”
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