A magnitude 6.1 earthquake occurred Thursday in northwestern Laos near the border with Thailand, the US Geophysical Institute (USGS) said. The earthquake occurred at a shallow depth Thursday at 6:50 am local time, said the USGS. The shock was felt more than 700 kilometers away, in the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, where Pope Francis is visiting.
The quake was particularly felt in the north and north-east of Thailand and in Bangkok, said Sophon Chaila, a head of the Thai meteorological department. "For the moment, there is no information about damage" in Thailand following the earthquake, said the source.
Residents of the Vietnamese capital Hanoi also said they felt the earthquake. "The ceiling lamps were moving rather strongly, I was scared," Hanoi Tran Hoa Phuong, whose apartment is in a 27-storey building, said.
First earthquake of magnitude 5.7
The quake came three hours after a first magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the same region in Laos, near the Xayaburi mega-dam on the Mekong River. There was no immediate information from Laos about damage or casualties. Pope Francis arrived in Thailand on Wednesday, the first leg of his Asian journey that will also take him to Japan. He is due to meet the King of Thailand and political leaders on Thursday before celebrating a public mass in the evening