Hanging lights could be seen swinging back and forth without anyone touching them on the 10th floor of a Bangkok office building this morning. Paranormal activity? No, in an uncommon occurrence, it was actually a moderately strong earthquake.
This morning #Earthquake became a top trending hashtag in Thailand after a shallow magnitude-6.1 quake hit northwestern Laos near the Thai border early Thursday, sending tremors across the region.
“The shaking … was the main shock from a quake in Laos at 6:50 am and was felt in northern and northeastern Thailand and Bangkok and suburbs,” said Sophon Chaila, an official at the Thai Meteorological Department.
Shaking could be felt more than 700 kilometres away in the Thai capital Bangkok, where Pope Francis is currently on a four-day visit.
Pope Francis lands in Bangkok for 4-day visit (Photos)
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the quake struck.
Many on social media flocked to share videos of the quake that seemed felt the most by those in high-rise buildings. Suspended lights and chandeliers could be seen swinging back and forth from the motion.
Twitter in Bangkok right now is hundreds of videos of swinging lights and chandeliers #แผ่นดินไหว pic.twitter.com/TIJYYeblxg
— Andy Baird (@andy_engineer) November 21, 2019
Residents in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi also felt buildings sway.
“The ceiling lights were shaking quite strongly. I felt dizzy and scared,” said Hanoi resident Tran Hoa Phuong, who felt the earthquake in her 27-storey apartment building.
The temblor hit about three hours after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the same region of Laos, near the site of the large Xayaburi dam project.
Information is slow to trickle out of the closed communist state, and there were no reports of damage or injuries after the twin quakes early Thursday.
Pope Francis arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday and has a busy agenda Thursday meeting officials and His Majesty the King before he leads a mass in the evening.
There was no word from his team on whether he felt the quake.
Additional reporting by Coconuts Bangkok
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