泰國佛寺遭旱災淹沒

泰國佛寺遭旱災淹沒

Thousands are flocking to see a Buddhist temple in central Thailand exposed after drought drove water levels to record lows in a dam reservoir where it had been submerged.

泰國中部一座佛寺因干旱導致水庫水位降至歷史最低水平，數(shù)千人涌向寺廟。

As the reservoir reaches less than 3 percent of capacity, the remains of Wat Nong Bua Yai, a modern temple submerged during construction of the dam 20 years ago, have become visible in the middle of dry ground.

由于水庫的蓄水量不足3%，20年前在大壩建設(shè)過程中被淹沒的現(xiàn)代寺廟臥鋪雅伊寺(Wat Nong Bua Yai)的遺跡重露真容。

Some Buddhist monks were among the hundreds of people who walked through broken temple structures on cracked earth littered with dead fish last week to pay respects to a headless 13-feet -tall Buddha statue, adorning it with flowers.

上周，數(shù)百人在布滿死魚的龜裂土地上走進破損的寺廟建筑，瞻仰一尊13英尺高、用鮮花裝飾的無頭佛像，一些佛教僧侶也在其中。

“The temple is normally covered by water. In the rainy season you don’t see anything,” said one of the visitors, Somchai Ornchawiang, a 67-year-old retired teacher.

“神廟經(jīng)常被水淹，在雨季，你什么也看不見。”一位67歲的退休教師索姆查.奧查維昂(SomchaiOrnchawiang)說。

He regretted the temple flooding but is now worried about the damage the drought is causing to farmland, he added.

他補充說，他對寺廟遭遇洪水感到遺憾，但現(xiàn)在他更擔心干旱對農(nóng)田造成的破壞。

The dam, with a capacity of 960 million cubic meters, normally irrigates more than 1.3 million acres (526,000 hectares) of farmland in four provinces, but drought has cut that to just 3,000 acres (1,214 hectares) in the single province of Lopburi.

大壩的容量為9.6億立方米，通?？梢怨喔?個省130多萬英畝(52.6萬公頃)的農(nóng)田，但如今只夠洛普布里一個省的3000英畝(1214公頃)。

The meteorological department says Thailand is facing its worst drought in a decade, with water levels in dams nationwide having fallen far short of the monthly average.

氣象部門說，泰國正面臨十年來最嚴重的干旱，全國大壩的水位遠低于月平均水平。

Yotin Lopnikorn, 38, headman of the Nong Bua village that used to be near the temple, recalls visiting it with friends as a child before dam construction forced the villagers out.

38歲的Yotin Lopnikorn是農(nóng)布阿村的村長，農(nóng)布阿村曾經(jīng)靠近寺廟。他回憶說，在大壩建設(shè)迫使村民們離開之前，他還是個孩子，和朋友們一起參觀過寺廟。

“When I was young, I always came to meet friends at the elephant sculptures in front of the main building to play there,” Yotin said.

Yotin說:“我小的時候，總是去主樓前的大象雕塑館和朋友們見面，在那里玩耍。”

At the time, the temple was the center of the community, used to conduct rituals, festivities and educational activities, besides functioning as a playground and recreational area.

當時，寺廟是社區(qū)的中心，除了用作游樂場和娛樂區(qū)外，還用于舉行儀式、慶典和教育活動。

Next to the temple compound are the remains of 700 households of the village.

寺廟旁邊是村里700戶人家的遺骨。

The ruins have reappeared before, after a drought in 2015.

在2015年的一場干旱之后，這片廢墟曾經(jīng)重新出現(xiàn)過。

“This is the second time I have seen this temple in this condition,” said Yotin. “Now I think we need to save this place.”

“這是我第二次看到這座寺廟處于這種狀態(tài)，”Yotin說。“我認為我們現(xiàn)在需要拯救這個地方。”