Cultural relic authorities in northwest China's Gansu Province have been organized to carry out a large-scale investigation into the damage to cultural relics caused by the magnitude-6.2 earthquake that took place on Monday midnight.

As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday, a total of 24 immovable cultural relics in the province were damaged to varying degrees, according to the National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) on Saturday.

The damage included cracks in the walls as well as bricks and tiles falling off ancient buildings, but no collapse occurred, said the NCHA.

Eleven pieces of painted pottery in Jishishan County Museum were damaged with other museum collections safe. Six management facilities on cultural relic protection and utilization suffered wall cracking. No damage was caused to the statues, murals and cave niches in the Bingling Temple Grottoes in spite of falling rocks and wall cracks in the area.

The NCHA has allocated funds for cultural relic protection and rescue to the provincial cultural heritage bureaus in Gansu and Qinghai provinces. Relief work has been carried out in an orderly manner by relevant departments in the two provinces, and restoration plans are being compiled to ensure timely restoration of the affected cultural relics.