A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 struck western Laos near the border with Thailand yesterday, sending people screaming for cover as far away as Bangkok and Hanoi.The quake hit at 0857 GMT, in the heart of the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet, in what was once a notorious opium smuggling route.
Officials in those countries as well as neighbouring China said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
People in Bangkok, roughly 880km from the epicentre, poured onto the street as high-rise buildings rocked.
In the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, hundreds of people fled office towers and hotels when the city's tall buildings started to sway.
"I thought I was suffering a stroke or a heart attack - then I realised it was an earthquake," said Fred Burke, a managing partner of the law firm who was on the 13th floor of a Hanoi office building.
The US Geological Survey estimated the tremor at a depth of 38km.
China's Seismological Monitoring Network, using a different scale, reported the quake at a strength of 6.6 while Thailand's meteorological department said a 4.7 magnitude aftershock hit at about 1005 GMT.
Officials in the four Thai provinces near the Laos border - Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan and Lampang - all said that they were still investigating the effects of the quake, but no serious damage or injuries had been reported.
In the province of Chiang Rai, the top of an ancient pagoda which was under restoration crumbled to the ground, a local official said.
In Chiang Mai, a city popular with tourists, people were evacuated from shaking buildings and flooded on to the streets.
"At Vincom Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the city, about 700 people raced to get out of the shopping center after it began swaying," said Nguyen Thu Lan, a company spokeswoman.
"It was shaking for about three minutes, and I think this was the strongest shaking we have ever felt. After the shaking stopped, many people who fled wouldn't dare to return," she said.
PHOTO CAPTION
A girl gazes out of a vehicle used as public transport in the northern Laotian city of Luang Prabang May 16, 2007. (Reuters)