Earthquake damages temples

PRAMBANAN, Indonesia – Indonesia’s earthquake badly damaged the famous Prambanan temple complex, sending stone carvings crashing to the ground and destroying years of restoration work in less than a minute.

Recognized as a U.N. world heritage site, the 9th-century temple and the nearby Borobudur Buddhist complex are reminders of the rich Hindu and Buddhist past of what is now the world’s most populous Muslim nation. Together they attract 1 million visitors annually.

The 7th-century Buddhist complex, situated farther from the epicenter of Saturday’s 6.3-magnitude quake, appeared to have escaped harm. But the deadly quake caused extensive damage to Prambanan, one of Southeast Asia’s largest Hindu temple compounds.

On Sunday, large chunks of broken walls and carvings lay scattered at the foot of the eight main shrines. Pieces of small temples, or “candis,” also had broken off.

“It will take months to identify the precise damage,” Agus Waluyo, head of the Yogyakarta Archaeological Conservation Agency, told The Associated Press.

He said the site would be closed to the public until archeologists can determine whether the quake damaged the foundation or tilted the shrines.