On March 28 an earthquake struck central Myanmar and was felt in several Asian countries. It destroyed many religious and historic sites, according to news reports. Since Myanmar is home to many revered Buddhist temples and shrines, I’ve been trying to determine which have been damaged or destroyed. Information has been sketchy, however.
As I write this the reported death toll is in the thousands and keeps going up. It may be a few days before there is a final number. Among those tragically lost in Myanmar are many Muslims who were gathered in mosques for Ramadan prayers when the earthquake hit. Al Jazeera reports that about fifty mosques in Myanmar are believed to have been damaged or destroyed, and hundreds of people in them have been killed. According to Al Jazeera, Myanmar authorities for decades have made it difficult for Muslims to obtain permission to repair or build mosques. Many mosques in Myanmar were not in good condition because routine maintenance was denied.
Myanmar Earthquake: Pagodas, Temples, Monasteries
Of Buddhist sites in Myanmar, among the greatest losses reported so far is the Shwe Sar Yan Pagoda near Mandalay. A pagoda is a temple or sacred building in the form of a multi-tiered tower. Traditionally, pagodas in Buddhist Asia were used as reliquaries, storing sacred books and objects. Shwe Sar Yan is said to have been built in the 11th century by King Anawrahta Minsaw, considered the father of the nation. He also is credited with making Theravada Buddhism his state religion, and Theravada Buddhism is by far the dominant religion in Myanmar to this day. The BBC has a video showing the collapse of the pagoda. I do not know if anyone was inside the pagoda when it collapsed. As you can see from the pre-earthquake photo below, the pagoda is surrounded by a complex of other temples and shrines, and I haven’t yet found reports about how much damage has been done to the site.
Several Buddhist monasteries have been destroyed, news stories say, but most of the news stories don’t provide the names of the monasteries. One that was mentioned by name is the Me Nu Brick Monastery, also called the Maha Aungmye Bonzan Monastery. This was a large structure consecrated in 1828 and considered one of the finest examples of Burmese architecture. Now it appears to be mostly destroyed. There is not yet an account of the number of monks in the building who might have been killed. In Mandalay, when a large tower of the Masoyein Monastery collapsed, monks rushed outside to survey the damage. Seconds later, their five-story monastery building collapsed.
The most famous temple in Myanmar is Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. Yangon is outside the area where most of the damage in Myanmar occurred. And I’ve found no mention of Schwedagon or Yangon in any news stories, so I am assuming Schwedagon and other buildings in the Yangon area are undamaged.
Unfortunately, however, the government of Myanmar is notoriously unstable and corrupt, and many question whether it is up to the task of taking care of the people and rebuilding what has been lost. On March 31 the BBC reported that hospitals in Myanmar are overwhelmed.
The Temples of Thailand — No News
Videos of water cascading from swimming pools on the roofs of high-rise buildings were all over social media this weekend. This was happening in the beautiful city of Bangkok, Thailand. One large high-rise Bangkok building completely collapsed. Bangkok is about 1,000 km (621 miles) from the earthquake epicenter, yet the tremors apparently hit Bangkok harder than they hit Yangon. I understand tremors were felt in India, China, and Vietnam.
There are a number of revered Buddhist temples in Bangkok, such as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and Wat Pho, which houses a magnificent and enormous reclining Buddha. While I have read in several places that there was much damage to buildings in Bangkok I’ve seen no mention of any of the temples. I hope this means they are all right. I will write an update if I learn otherwise.
If you wish to make a donation to help the earthquake victims, here is a list of trusted charities from Charity Watch.
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