PHAYAO: A minor quake, measuring 3.0 on the Richter scale, hit Muang district of this northern province on Sunday morning but people in the area did not feel the tremor, according to the Thai Meteorological Department's seismology office.
The office said the quake occurred at 4.10am, with the epicentre one kilometre underground in Muang district.
Tinnakorn Thathong, director of the Zone 1 Geological Office in Lampang that oversees the 17 northern provinces, said a quake of this magnitude is considered minor. Since the epicentre of the quake was not in a residential area, local people did not feel any shaking movements from it, he said.
Sunday morning's quake was likely to be from the Phayao fault, a small but powerful fault, he added.
In November this year, five earthquakes have occurred in the North - four in Chiang Rai and one in Phayao - with magnitudes ranging from 1.7-3.0. They were light tremors and most of them were not felt by the people in the areas.
Earthqakes in the North are not unusual because there are as many as eight faults lying across the region, Mr Tinnakorn said.