Ancient Nepali temple town of Bhaktapur left in ruins
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Version 0 of 1. BHAKTAPUR, Nepal — The gods did not spare this ancient temple town, world-famous as a center of Hindu and Buddhist worship and culture, when a powerful earthquake struck the nearby Nepali capital last Saturday. The quake, immediately followed by several strong aftershocks, destroyed many magnificent religious structures here, killed at least 270 people and left entire residential districts of the graceful hillside city in ruins. A week later, the city that normally bustles with tourists, pilgrims and festive events was eerily silent. In the central plaza, or durbar, several ornate wooden temples had collapsed, stone figures of lions and elephants were smashed, and a Pakistani army team with a sniffer dog was searching a mountain of rubble for signs of a missing Chinese tourist. The damage to the city’s religious and royal heritage, a source of international prestige and local prosperity, was accompanied by a devastating trail of destruction through the surrounding neighborhoods of cafes, guesthouses, corner shrines, and multistory brick and wood homes that lined narrow brick alleys. “This was my house. You have to climb up to see it,” said Sharad Khatri, a municipal official. He pointed to a hazardous heap of bricks and boards that had collapsed into an alley, where his wife was cooking lunch on the ground. “We survived but have no idea what to do now,” Khatri said with a hopeless gesture. “We are just living and eating.” On Saturday, the contrasts between enduring faith and instant destruction were everywhere. At one corner was a small Hindu shrine, where people stopped all morning to leave flower garlands and strike a tinkling bell. Immediately next to it was a demolished Buddhist shrine. The street led to a schoolyard, where homeless families were sleeping in classrooms. Outside, someone had arranged rows of metal desks on the grass, and volunteer cooks were making vats of rice stew. One by one, people filled leaf-lined plates with stew, sat down at the rickety school desks and began to scoop up the meal with their hands. While most streets were empty and silent, every few blocks there were flurries of rescue and relief activity. A crowd gathered to watch a squad of Nepali soldiers dismantle a dangerously tilting house, brick by brick, and toss down the debris in a cloud of dust. At one temple, elderly people were resting under plastic tarps while children dipped buckets into a huge plastic barrel of drinking water. Nearby, men were trying to prop up a cracked wall with a timber taken from a ruined house. With mountains of rubble and roofs gaping open everywhere in the sprawling town of more than 100,000, it was hard to believe that the death toll was so low. But even among those whose families had survived, the psychic toll of collective loss and havoc was palpable. “My family is all right, so I should be glad, but our minds are all very disturbed. It is a nightmare,” said Raj Maskey, a retired banker. “My ancestors have lived in this city for 200 or 300 years, and now what has become of it?” Others complained bitterly that the government had done nothing to help the local population recover from the quake and that the only substantial aid was coming from international charities and rescue groups. “People are being told to send all their donations to the prime minister’s disaster relief fund, but we are not seeing any of the relief,” said Aman Manandhar, 23, a student and computer technician. “We are a strong and united people, but the government is being silent. We know the money they get will not be used in the right way.” On Saturday, a Chinese government medical charity had set up several large tents in the main square, and a squad of French rescue workers in red jumpsuits trooped through the city. Less than a mile outside the city, a large contingent of Pakistani troops, including the rescue unit with the sniffer dog, had established a camp to help with post-quake efforts. Bhaktapur, long designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, was built by the Malla and Newa kings in the 14th and 15th centuries, and some of its present-day residents and artisans are descended from those eras. In 1934, the city was badly damaged by another earthquake, but many of its famous structures, which include the Lion Gate, the Palace of 55 Windows, a Buddhist monastery and various statues of Hindu gods and kings, were rebuilt by the area’s skilled Newar craftsmen. In recent years, the city grew as a well-preserved Mecca for foreign tourists as well as religious devotees, with more than 1,000 visitors a day making the eight-mile trip from Kathmandu. The central plaza is surrounded by quaint hotels, restaurants, handicraft shops and business services – some now badly damaged, others shuttered and locked. Several other famous heritage sites in Kathmandu and the surrounding area were also damaged in the quake, but Bhaktapur was always described as the most pristine, attractive and developed historic location. Guidebooks describe it as a “cultural gem” with modern amenities as well as a historic atmosphere. But on Saturday, with the city in shock and homeless residents poking among the precarious rubble of their former lives, it seemed hard to imagine Bhaktapur returning to its former regal and religious greatness any time soon. “We were saved, but everything we have is still inside our house,” said Rohit Chand, 14, an eighth-grader who stood looking up at the tangle of cement, metal and wood debris that had once been his family home. “My mother’s gold is still inside, and so are my schoolbooks,” the worried boy said. “If my school ever opens again, I don’t know what I’ll do.” Read more Magnitude-7.8 earthquake hits Nepal More than 1,900 killed by 7.8-magnitude quake in Nepal More than 1,900 killed by 7.8-magnitude quake in Nepal In earthquake’s deadly aftermath, Nepalis grieve the loss of their sacred landmarks |