CRI听力:"Decades" of Repairs Required for Nepal's Biggest Tourist Sites

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

"I am deeply hurt. I can't put it into words. I feel really, really bad. I don't know how I will heal."

"I feel like this is now a graveyard. This is where we played, where we grew up. Seeing all these temples destroyed I feel so depressed. I just can't describe it."

At least 14 historic buildings have been destroyed or severely damaged in the quake, including 12 on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

The iconic 9-storey Dharahara tower, a major tourist attraction in Kathmandu which was nearly 200 years old, has been reduced to just its base.

The country's oldest Swayambhunath temple, which was built 2,500 years ago, was also damaged.

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

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

Ye Liang, a Chinese Buddhist teacher based in Kathmandu, suggests rebuilding the main structures within a year or two.

"If we can draw enough manpower to reconstruct the main buildings of the destroyed historical sites in one or two years, it will not impose much impact on Nepal's tourism. Later, we can rebuilt other buildings gradually."

Wang Bing with the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture says the reconstruction work still faces a lot of difficulties.

"Nepal of course will put relief work and humanitarian aid on the top agenda. They have to settle down residents who lost their homes in the quake and repair damaged infrastructure. Only after that, they can spare hand to embark on cultural sites reconstruction."

Cultural officials in Nepal agree the reconstruction work will be challenging, with very high costs and a lack of technology and technical manpower.

However, UNESCO Representative to Nepal Christian Manhart is quite optimistic as they have architectural features like sculptures, carved wooden beams, cornerstones, which can be reused.

"We have detailed photographs, we have architectural plans and drawings, we have measurements, so this will be a very good basis for future reconstruction but of course it will be extremely costly and the government of Nepal and UNESCO we are counting very much on the international solidarity to help with this enormous task."

The cultural agency is currently preparing to field an international expert mission to undertake an in-depth damage assessment and then advise and provide support to the Nepalese authorities and local communities on the protection and conservation of the damage.
It is said the assessment will take two or three months.

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

It has taken almost 80 years to rebuild the main structures of the temples destroyed in that quake.

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun.