People living in high-rise buildings in some areas in Hanoi city felt light tremors for a few minutes at 6:50 am on November 21, VnExpress reported.

The shakes possibly resulted from a 6.1-magnitude earthquake hitting northwestern Laos near the border with Thailand.

Location of the earthquake in Laos on Thursday morning. Photo: Zing

Many Hanoi’s residents reported that they felt their furniture shake.

Nguyen Thanh Hiep (30 years old), living on the 20th floor of Times City Apartment Building in Hai Ba Trung district, said he felt dizzy as if his blood pressure dropped and saw a cup of water on the table shake for about 10 seconds.

Many people living in high-rise buildings in Cau Giay, Bac Tu Liem and Thanh Xuan also felt the tremor. “The door of the cupboard banged and scared my children. The ceiling fan also shook slightly," said Nguyen Tuan Long (43 years old), living on the 15th floor of an apartment building at the Diplomatic Corps Urban Area, Bac Tu Liem district.

Being in an elevator in Imperia Garden, Thanh Xuan district, Nguyen Thi Thuy (38 years old) felt a strong vibration, which made her think the elevator broke down. When walking down the hall, she learned that it was because of the earthquake.

The Earth Physics Institute identified a magnitude 6.1 earthquake at a depth of about 38 kilometers, occurring in Sayabouri province, Laos at 6:50 am this morning. Hanoi is about 500km away from the epicenter, so only people living in some high-rise buildings could feel it.

Residents in central province of Nghe An, about 400 km from the epicenter, could also perceive the tremor on Thursday morning. Tran Cao Nguyen, from Vinh city, said that at the 16th floor of Truong Thi ward apartment, he found the cup on the table was shaking, the window curtain stirred for about three seconds.

Reuters reported that a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck the border of Thailand and Laos at 6:50 am this morning. The epicenter was about 219km from Vientiane, Laos’ capital city and 600km from Hanoi. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Earlier, 3.32pm on November 20, a 4.2 magnitude earthquake at the depth of 10km was reported in Tan Ky district, Nghe An.