CRI听力:Nepal Earthquake: a Heavy Blow to Nepal's Cultural Heritage Sites

Piles of bricks, wooden beams and other debris are littered throughout Durbar Square in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu.

At least 3 of the 7 World Heritage sites in the Kathmandu Valley have been completely destroyed.

The iconic 9-storey Dharahara tower, a major tourism attraction in Kathmandu, has been reduced to just its base.

Ye Liang, a Chinese Buddhist teacher based in Kathmandu, is doing his utmost to try to draw attention to the destruction of Nepal's cultural heritage.

"Here, I am calling for immediate action to preserver the Changgu Narayan Temple, which is a key world cultural heritage site in Nepal. Fortunately, the main body of the temple is still standing. However, the cracks in the walls suggest it may be in danger of collapsing in the near future."

The United Nation's cultural agency, UNESCO, is describing the scale of damage caused by last Saturday's earthquake as "very rare" among any natural disaster in modern history.

UNESCO says many of the temple complexes located in the communities of Katmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan are "almost fully destroyed".

This could be a deadly blow to the country's tourism industry, which accounts for around 8-percent of Nepal's GDP.

Despite the extensive damage, Buddhist scholar Ye Liang says the community in Kathmandu is already working to try to recover.

"Overall, people in Nepal are quite optimisitic. Many shops resumed business the day after the earthquake, and a lot of religious groups have organized worship ceremonies. Because the nation just went through a 20-year-long civil war, which ended in 2006, many people didn't have full access to electricity and water even before the quake. They are able to cope with the disaster, perhaps better than most others."

UNESCO is now working on a detailed survey of the damage to each of Nepal's historical sites.

Wang Bing with the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture says one of the issues planners will have to deal with is religion.

"There is a general consensus around the world that renovation is the most common method to deal with destroyed cultural heritage. However, things could be different for Nepal, which is a country with strong religious background. Since these heritage sites are living temples for residents to pray at every day, rebuilding them completely might be the better way to go."

While devastating, this past Saturday's earthquake isn't the first shock to Nepal's culture in recent history.

An earthquake estimated at an 8.0 hit the country in 1935, causing sigificant damage to many of Nepal's major temples.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.