Nepal earthquake ravages large collection of historic sites

UNESCO's Director-General Irina Bokova said the organization is mobilizing groups of experts to the region to ensure that they properly account for the "extensive and irreversible damage" to the sites to help determine if they can be preserved or repaired, reports USA Today. The entire Kathmandu Valley is designated a World Heritage site and includes seven monuments that have received the organization's historic designation.

"My greatest worry is that there are many wonderful structures that are not that visible and famous, but are actually the centers of religious communities and hold these communities together," Alexander von Rospatt, a professor of Buddhist and South Asian studies at the University of California-Berkeley, told USA Today.

In Nepal, “people don’t necessarily place a great deal of value on a piece of wood just because it’s old,” added Michael Meister, the W. Norman Brown Professor in South Asia studies at the University of Pennsylvania. “But if you were to restore the temple, you would want it back.”