Deadly Myanmar Earthquake Devastates Cultural Sites

A 7.7-magnitude earthquake in Myanmar killed approximately 2,700 people, injured thousands more, and rippled into neighboring Thailand on Friday, March 28, leaving a devastating trail of destruction in its wake. 

Approximately 3,000 structures were damaged as a result of the earthquake, including more than 95 pagodas and stupas and 50 mosques. These preliminary tallies of cultural heritage destruction were shared on X on Saturday by the country’s civilian shadow government, the National Unity Government of Myanmar, which opposes the ruling military junta in the ongoing civil war. The fatal natural disaster compounds an already worsening humanitarian crisis in the country. 

In Myanmar’s second largest city, Mandalay, known as the “city of gold” for its stunning Buddhist architecture, part of the historic Mandalay Palace appears to have toppled onto its side. State-controlled media said the palace’s Si Shay gateway was damaged, as well as a clock tower. The city, located in the center of the country near the earthquake’s epicenter, was the capital of Myanmar before British colonial rule began in 1885.

The government media also broadcast images of collapsed walls and cracked foundations at Mandalay Palace. During World War II, the walled complex was mostly destroyed under Japanese occupation and air raids, and a replica was built atop the damaged site in the 1990s, according to the Getty Research Institute. 

In the capital city of Naypyidaw, a team of Agence France-Presse journalists were inside the National Museum of Myanmar, where they witnessed parts of the ceiling collapsing and walls cracking. 

The 200-year-old Mandalay Me Nu Brick Monastery was nearly destroyed, the New York Times reported. Facebook images suggest the structure completely crumbled beyond recognition in the earthquake. The New Masoeyein Monastery, also in Mandalay, apparently collapsed. Photos and videos show monks surrounding the building’s fallen clock tower. The Burma Human Rights Network, a London-based organization, said on Friday that 24 monasteries had collapsed in the city. 

Ramadan prayers were underway at several mosques when the earthquake began. Some reports estimate that 700 worshippers died in collapsing Muslim mosques. One man who was attending Friday services inside a now-ruined mosque in the town of Taungoo, south of the capital, told Reuters that his grandmother, two uncles, and aunts were trapped beneath the rubble.

On Monday, April 1, worshippers gathered for Eid al-Fitr prayer in an area where two mosques had been destroyed. 

Human rights groups have said that historic mosques are deteriorating across the Buddhist-majority country in part because the government denies them maintenance permits. 

In 2018, the United Nations accused Myanmar’s military of “genocidal intent” against the Rohingya Muslim minority, among other human rights abuses. Some reports suggest that the junta is still carrying out airstrikes in the aftermath of last week’s quake, though resistance groups have committed to a unilateral ceasefire to support relief. 

Outside of Mandalay city, a video captured onlookers shrieking and watching in horror as the tip of the golden Shwe Sar Yan Pagoda, built between 800 and 1200, broke off and catapulted downward. 

It is unclear if Bagan, a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage designated site in the earthquake impact zone, has incurred serious damage. According to UNESCO, the area contains 3,595 Buddhist monuments, including stupas and temples from the Bagan period between the 11th and 13th centuries. According to local testimonies included in a Burmese-language news website, at least six pagodas were damaged during the earthquake. In 2016, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake caused several Bagan pagodas to crumble. 

UNESCO has not yet responded to Hyperallergic’s request for comment. 

Pyu Ancient Cities, Myanmar’s second UNESCO World Heritage site, located across three moated cities dating back to between 200 BCE and 900 CE — Halin, Beikthano, and Sri Ksetra — is also located within the impact range of the earthquake. It is unclear whether any of the ancient cities suffered damage. 

The World Monuments Fund (WMF), an organization working to safeguard cultural heritage sites, released a statement expressing condolences to those who have lost family members in the tragedy and stating the organization had received “reports of the disaster’s impact at major heritage sites.” 

Today, April 1, a spokesperson for the WMF told Hyperallergic that the organization had no updates from the ground in Myanmar yet. 

“We are continuing to monitor the situation in Myanmar and are actively reaching out to local partners to assess needs and determine how we can provide meaningful support,” the spokesperson said.