Powerful natural disaster shakes central Myanmar

That powerful tremor – also of 6.8 magnitude – struck the centre of the country, killing 26 people and injuring hundreds.

“It’s really heartbreaking. I can not even eat”, said Tin Hla Oo, a trustee of the three-story Htilominlo pagoda, which was badly damaged by the quake.

In fiscal year 2014-15, roughly 242,000 tourists who visited the zone generated about USA $4.1 million, according to a May 2015 article in the Myanmar Times which cited figures from the Bagan branch of the Archaeology and National Museum Department.

People stand outside their offices after they rushed outdoors following tremors in Kolkata, India, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.

At least 185 brick pagodas in Bagan were damaged, the state newspaper reported.

A police officer from Bagan said a Spanish holidaymaker was slightly hurt when the quake knocked her from the temple where she was watching the sunset.

Myanmar authorities reported that three people were killed and at least 228 temples and pagodas have been damaged in the whole of Mandalay after a 6.8 magnitude natural disaster struck the country on August 24. Bagan is the country’s most famous archaeological site and a major tourist destination some 30km north of the quake’s epicentre.

UPDATED: 9:09 a.m. EDT – Residents in Yangon – Myanmar’s most populous city – evacuated tall buildings in the midst of Wednesday’s magnitude 6.8 quake in what the U.S. Geological Survey has called “one of the most seismically hazardous regions on Earth”. “We felt quite heavy shaking for about 10 seconds and started to evacuate the building when there was another strong tremor”, said Vincent Panzani of charity Save the Children.

The quake was felt throughout south and southwestern Bangladesh close to the border with Myanmar, with television footage showing residents running into the streets.

“There have also been reports of damage to smaller, more basic buildings…”

UPDATED: 8:45 a.m. EDT – The powerful quake that rocked Myanmar Wednesday shook high rise buildings in Thailand’s capital city, which is located almost 800 miles away, the Bangkok Post reported. Director of Bihar’s Met office A K Sen said some old buildings developed cracks following the quake but there was no immediate report of any casualty or damage to property.