Beijing, CRIENGLISH.com, June 13
Cultural officials from Nepal and other South Asian countries are now in Beijing to attend a series of lectures about how to manage cultural sites.
The meetings in Beijing come on the heels of the devastating earthquakes in Nepal earlier this year.
Bhesh Dahal, the head of the Nepalese government’s Department of Archaeology, says the earthquakes, on top of killing close to 9-thousand, also had a devastating impact on his country’s cultural relics.
“The loss of Nepal’s cultural relics and historical sites caused by those earthquakes were tremendous. Besides Kathmandu, over 20 surrounding counties were affected, 741 important cultural sites were destroyed.”
The Nepalese government estimates it make anywhere from 5 to 7-years to rebuild the heritage sites damaged or destroyed in the quakes.
Nepalese officials are preparing to hold a donor conference later on this month to try to drum up support for its cultural rebuild.