Photos: Landslides, flash floods damage 1,000 year old pagoda in Myanmar

Flooding in southern Myanmar has caused a landslide at a famed Buddhist Kyeik Than Lan pagoda in the Mawlamyine district, submerged homes and displaced hundreds of people as monsoon rains batter the country. Several parts of Myanmar's southern Mon state, home to its main trading centre and southern sea port are facing flash floods due to heavy rains since the weekend with no relief in sight. Rescue workers could be seen working together with novice Buddhist monks in attempting to salvage prized Buddha statues and artifacts after the recent damage.

Updated on: Jun 20, 2018 11:17 AM IST

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Workers save a Buddha statue after a landslide damaged the hilltop Kyeik Than Lan pagoda in Mawlamyine, Mon state following heavy rains. Flooding in southern Myanmar caused a landslide at the over 1,100-year-old pagoda, submerged homes and displaced residents, according to state media, as the monsoon season picks up strength. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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Residents use an improvised raft to move around in the flooded township of Mawlamyine. Several parts of Myanmar’s southern Mon state are facing flash floods due to heavy rains since the weekend with no relief in sight, according to a report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on Monday. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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Rains triggered a landslide that damaged the hilltop Kyeik Than Lan pagoda, whose golden stupa towers over state capital Mawlamyine. Workers were seen helping to relocate Buddha statues and novice monks helped clean up debris at the religious site after a wedge of hillside slipped away. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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Bo Win, a resident helping with the flood response, told AFP that around 1,000 people were sheltering in several sites around Mawlamyine. “This is the worst flood in the state that I have ever seen,” said Nyan Soe, another local resident. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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About 150 residents further south of Mawlamyine were evacuated to a government school after dozens of homes and bridges were submerged, while a monastery was destroyed across the river from the city, the New Light reported. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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So far no casualties have been reported in the state, but rains continue to pound swathes of the country. Last week five people were killed after monsoon rains triggered a landslide in Mogok, a northern Myanmar town famed for its ruby mines. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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Rescue workers and Buddhist monks clear debris after a landslide in Mawlamyine. The pagoda was also made famous by English poet Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Mandalay” which opens with the line: “By the old Moulmein Pagoda, Looking lazy at the sea”. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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A woman with her baby displaced by the floods rest in a stadium in the township of Mawlamyine. Myanmar is one of several countries in the region to face severe yearly flooding. In 2015 it topped a global list compiled by climate scientists of nations hardest hit by extreme weather. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)

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Rescue personnel from Myanmar Fire Services Deparment use a boat to assist residents. That year more than 100 people died in floodwaters that also displaced hundreds of thousands across the country. Some 138,000 people died in 2008 when Cyclone Nargis lashed vast stretches of Myanmar’s coast. (Ye Aung Thu / AFP)