There is a huge (by Korean standards) 'mountain' fire burning in Yangyang, Gangwon-do. The fire(s) have claimed many homes and farms in the area. One of the most prominent victims was Naksansa, a very nice temple near the East Sea. Seeing scenes of some of the temple buildings burning, I'm reminded of a trip I took there with a good friend a few years back. Not being Buddhist, I could not appreciate the temple as much as he did but I certainly could appreciate the temple's mellow setting. It is (was?) one of Korea's more prominant temples. It's sad to see it go.
People (about 1,600 at last count) have evacuated their homes. I'm sure that some other IKK bloggers will be on this with more information.
UPDATE: The lose of Naksansa, while certainlly bad, is not as bad as the term '1500-year-old temple.' Might have you believe. The bulk of the buildings that where lost were built after the temple was destroyed in the Korean War.
UPDATE 2: You can get some good coverage at Gangwon Notes. I would have linked to him last night but I can't get my typepad buttons on screen on my home computer.
I woke up smelling smoke in Sokcho this morning (about 12km away). I visited Naksan area and saw more than a thousand fire fighters. The wind has been wild all day: powerful and crazily corkscrewing. I was surprised to learn that Naksan Temple has been damaged or destroyed as the fire fighters were confident of protecting it in the late morning.
Posted by: kwandongbrian | Tuesday, April 05, 2005 at 06:15 PM
Nice coverage at your blog, "gwandongbrian."
Posted by: oranckay | Wednesday, April 06, 2005 at 12:14 AM