Nepal earthquake anniversary: Unesco launches project to rehabilitate Kathmandu Valley

Unesco Director-General Irina Bokova held a news conference in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on 19 April, after a two-day visit to the country devastated by a powerful earthquake two years ago. Bokova visited Nepal to launch a project for the rehabilitation of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage site and review the ongoing rehabilitation schemes.

"It's a huge works. We need to do a lot more in terms of not just restoration but also in terms of inventories, in terms of management. I think this is where we need more capacity," she told journalists.

Head of Unesco's Nepal office, Christian Manhart, said much of the centuries-old damaged temples and cultural treasures can be restored as the archaeologists have managed to salvage many original elements of the buildings that could be used in the process of restoration.

"We have a lot. So there's a lot of wooden beams, carved wooden beams and fixtures, which can be re-used and, I think, this is the technique, you know, after each earthquake here in Nepal. What collapses is mostly the brick walls, and these other elements − they were re-used for centuries and centuries and we have many of them, and also we know exactly how these monuments were looking," he said.

Two tremors last April and May killed 9,000 people, injured more than 22,000 and damaged or destroyed more than 900,000 houses.