My Son Relic is on the verge of collapsing as critical damage has been discovered in two clusters of the whole group of archaic Hindu Temples. This urgent announcement was made by Nguyen Cong Khiet, Deputy Director of the management board of My Son Relic who found serious cracks and sinkage in B3 and B5 temples specifically.  A complete inspection was conducted on the site recently and it turned out that the damage was due to intense rain and flooding over time and that the whole structure stands on underground water coming from the stream.

The building of a dike is out of the question since it is considered illegal to construct new structures on protected sites. An initial attempt to safeguard B3 temple was already done in 1992 when Polish architect Kazimierz Kwiatkowski constructed a supporting wall. But Japanese experts discovered the underground water in 2006, causing the foundation to wear out through time. The said temple was also inspected by the Science and Technology Institute of the Ministry of Construction on September 2013, but the agency failed in delivering an effective plan to fix the damage. Since then, the temple has inclined to more than eight degrees to the South-West. The sinkage has resulted in cracks up to six meters long and 12 cms. wide.

The other temples are also seen to be developing the same plight. Moreover, a large number of tours have already been cancelled because of the destruction and imminent danger. My Son Relic is a group of partly-destroyed ancient Hindu temples built between the 4th and 13th centuries in Central Vietnam during the Champa Kingdom rule. It is made up of a cluster of eight groups of 71 standing monuments on a 142-hectare land area. Present-day Duy Xuyen District in Quang Nam Province, the site holds even more secrets and mystery with an even greater number of relics still unearthed and waiting to be discovered. As such, My Son Relic was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

My Son Relic is a world-class tourist destination because of its rich history and culture. If it is truly serious in its effort to preserve such, the management board should produce and implement a reliable conservation plan at the soonest time.