The 6.8-magnitude earthquake damaged dozens of ancient structures



There's rarely a good side to an earthquake. But the quake that shook Myanmar's ancient city of Bagan on 24 August may have a silver lining, as BBC Myanmar correspondent Jonah Fisher reports.

More than 400 of Bagan's buildings were damaged in the earthquake and on the flanks of one of them, Sulamani Pagoda, we watch as a man attacks a lump of rock with a hammer.

Until very recently this lump had sat proudly at the very top, now it's in the process of being smashed apart. After several percussive blows a grey slab falls away. It's put into a basket and passed down rickety scaffolding alongside the pagoda.

There's a human chain of several hundred volunteers waiting to receive it. Like Aye Theingi, a nun dressed all in pink, many of them have travelled long distances to help.
Earthquake hits central Myanmar
In pictures: Myanmar quake

"I came overnight from Hinthada [500km away] and I haven't slept yet," she says with a smile. "I have come from very far away so I will gain a lot of merit."

Buddhists believe that that they gain merit through doing good deeds, like fixing pagodas, and will be rewarded in this life, or the next.