Indonesia Prambanan

People are still struggling to rebuild from the earthquake that hit Indonesia in 2006. We travel now to one temple that is still picking up the pieces.
The 5.9 Richter scale earthquake in May 2006 caused serious damage to the temples in Indonesias Prambanan temple area, and two and half years later they have not recovered.

The three largest temples include the Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu temples. Large pieces of debris, including carvings, are still scattered on the ground.

Tourists are anxious to see the restoration of these 1150-year-old temples completed.

[Bambang Sumbandono, Prambanan Unit Director]: MALE, 5th Person Interviewed, Using White Cloth, SOUNDBITE IN BAHASA
By using print and electronic media, we try to communicate to our visitors that one of this world heritage site, hit by an earthquake, is still in the restoration process. Explaining the situation like that has actually helped increase the number of visitors. We have already counted more than 14,000 visits during the holiday season. Visits on an ordinary day reach 2,000.

But many tourists are still disappointed that they cannot have access to the major temple, which is still surrounded by fences.

[Yos Handani, Tour Guide]: MALE, 3rd Person Interviewed, Using Glasses, Wearing Yellow-Blue Cloth. SOUNDBITE IN BAHASA
The restoration process takes a long time. It has already been nearly two years. But I think the restoration process still needs 6 or 8 months to be finished. Many tourists that I bring from foreign countries feel disappointed.

[Kim Yen, Malaysian Tourist]: MALE, 4th Person Interviewed, Using Red Cloth. SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH
Hopefully they can restore everything back in order, so the tourists can have aaccess to everything here and enjoy this beautiful temple. Because if they keep on delaying the process, I think you will find many disappointed tourists here.

The restoration process is very complex and the placement of the scattered stones has to be done very carefully so that they match the temple builiding.

International foundations such as Unesco and many foreign countries have sent researchers and financing to help save this world heritage site.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• indonesia
• prambanan temple
• earthquake
• brahma
• shiva
• tishnu