The United States Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of 84km.
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“We believe this time the restoration will follow global standards”, said Sardar Umar Alam, the head of UNESCO’s office in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.
Sulamani Temple suffered heavy damage in the aftermath of the quake.
More than 2,000 temples and pagodas, many of which were built between the 10th and 13th centuries, dot Bagan, a popular tourist destination which sits in an quake zone in Mandalay region about 30 kilometers (19 miles) north of the epicenter of Wednesday’s temblor.
The BBC is reporting the death of a 22-year-old man in that town.
A 6.8-magnitude natural disaster hit Myanmar on Wednesday causing damage to 190 ancient pagodas and temples in Bagan-Nyaung Oo, an ancient city in central Myanmar, as well as in Salay and Mrauk U townships, according to an announcement of the archeology department of Myanmar.
“We have been compiling a list of damaged structures, though we haven’t completed it”, said Thein Lwin, deputy director general of the Bagan branch of the Ministry of Culture’s Archaeology and National Museum Department.
The magnitude 6.8 quake, which struck 129 miles (208 kilometers) northwest of Myanmar’s second largest city Mandalay on Wednesday, shook buildings across the country, with tremors felt as far away as Thailand, Bangladesh and eastern India.
The quake was felt over 600 miles away in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok where it sent ceiling lights swaying.
Visiting the site, Myanmar’s President Htin Kyaw said rebuilding work would not start until October, after the monsoon season. No Thais in Myanmar were apparently injured, either. However, there was no report of major damage. “I went outside to check the situation in the town”. “Two buildings collapsed as well, while some others were cracked”.
Other officials were checking pagodas as public transportation in nearby India was brought to a temporary halt, Myanmar Times reported. The quake was felt widely across the region, from Bangkok to Kolkata.
The epicenter is in an area where earthquakes are fairly common, but usually don’t cause many casualties because there are no large densely populated cities. There were no reports of damage in either country.
Pictures and video posted on social media, however, does show at least one temple was damaged.
“My wife barely escaped outside as the pagoda collapsed”, he said. The lead author of the study that prompted the prediction cited Global Positioning System data as evidence. “We noticed a 15-second-long shaking”, he said. “Now we have the data and a model, and we can estimate the size”.
At least four people were killed, including two children, during the 6.8 magnitude tremor just south of Bagan.
Tourist take photographs of an ancient pagoda after a 6.8 magnitude quake hit Bagan on August 24, 2016.
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This is a developing story.
