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TSUNAMI IMPACT: World Heritage Sites Not Spared From Killer Waves

Suvendrini Kakuchi

KOBE, Jan 24 2005 (IPS) - As the world rushes to the aid of millions of survivors struggling to regain their devastated lives in the tsunami-struck countries in the Indian Ocean, a group of international archeologists is planning a joint study to restore cultural treasures that have been destroyed in the huge disaster.

”The damage to some of the world’s most precious heritages from the tsunami has been extensive and needs restoration. The only way this rehabilitation can be done is through a network of experts working together,” said Yasumichi Murakami, a Japanese conservation architect.

Experts from Iran, Pakistan, Japan, China, Sri Lanka and Morocco, conducted a special session on cultural heritage disaster mitigation at the sidelines of the World Conference on Disaster Prevention, which ended on Jan. 22. The U.N.-organised conference was held in the port city of Kobe.

When the Dec. 26 killer tsunami – spawned by a huge 9.0 magnitude undersea quake in northern Sumatra – lashed the coastlines of a dozen Indian Ocean rim countries in South and South-east Asia, several sites inscribed on the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO’s) World Heritage List were hit.

Among the damaged cultural sites are the old town of Galle and its fortifications in Sri Lanka; and, in India, the Mahabalipuram in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

The human toll, too in these areas has been horrendous. In Sri Lanka, more than 30,880 have died, and thousands more are missing. The number of homeless people is put at between 800,000 and one million. In India’s Tamil Nadu state, 7,968 have been confirmed dead.

UNESCO is expected to play a big role to develop a support system for the cultural preservation of these tsunami-damaged cultural sites, and will be sending an assessment team to determine the amount of work needed.

Sri Lanka’s coastal town of Galle was founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese, and reached the height of its development in the 18th century, before the arrival of the British. It is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in South and South-East Asia, showing the interaction between European architectural styles and South Asian traditions.

The Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu’s Chingleput district is a group of sanctuaries, founded by the Pallava in the 7th and 8th centuries. It is known especially for its ‘rathas’ (temples in the form of chariots), ‘mandapas’ (cave sanctuaries), giant open-air reliefs such as the famous ‘Descent of the Ganges’, and the Temple of Rivage, with thousands of sculptures to the glory of Shiva.

Dhammika Chandrasekera, an archeology lecturer at the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka, said the Sri Lankan Archeological Department has already begun damage assessment studies on the east coast of the country that was flattened by the tsunami.

”We believe that ancient monuments, replicas and statues were washed away,” he explained.

Chandrasekera appealed to the international community for help in restoring the lost treasures, pointing out that Sri Lanka and other developing countries that were hit by the tsunami had never experienced such a disaster before and are at a total loss on how to proceed with the rehabilitation of the heritage sites.

The wrath of nature on a cultural heritage site was also seen on Dec. 26, 2003 – a year before the Asian tsunami struck – at the rich archaeological remains of the Iranian city of Bam, where 26,000 lost their lives in a huge earthquake in the area.

Bam and its cultural landscape – a UNESCO World Heritage site – represent an exceptional testimony to the development of a trading settlement in the desert environment of the Central Asian region.

Iranian archeologist Mehrdad Hejazi stressed the importance of having an emergency plan for the restoration of heritage sites when they are destroyed by natural disasters.

He said Iran was still trying to figure out how to rehabilitate the Bam cultural landscape.

”We are hampered by the lack of research and are finding it very difficult to proceed with the restoration,” he said.

”We learn by our mistakes. And for this reason it is important to develop guidelines for disaster mitigation and disaster management when natural disasters strike,” stressed Hejazi.

Prof. Toshihide Uchida at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, told IPS that several steps must be taken urgently to minimise heritage losses in the tsunami-hit countries.

”An important method of preservation is to record the oral testimony of the local community, specially of old people, who can describe the lost buildings and the role of those treasures in the communities,” he explained.

Japan, one the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, has developed a system where the government’s Cultural Department mans a disaster mitigation section that works closely with experts in culture and archeology.

A key part of this system is the collection of data from important cultural sites that could prove to be important in their rehabilitation, should natural disasters strike them.

Still, says Uchida, the fight to protect cultural heritages is even difficult. An uphill struggle has been to prevent reconstruction plans that do not take into consideration the past heritage of the devastated areas.

Chandrasekera agreed, saying, ”the biggest concern is the loss of traditional livelihood and history of the areas that were devastated in Sri Lanka in the ongoing rapid post-tsunami reconstruction.”