Two earthquakes were reported centred in Xayaboury province of Laos on Monday morning. There were no reports of serious damage but the tremors were felt in Thailand's neighbouring Nan province.
The Laotiane Times reported that the Lao National Earthquake Data Centre detected two earthquakes in Xayaboury that were felt as far away as Vientiane.
The first tremor measured 3.5 on the Richter scale and struck at 4.02am, centred at a depth of 10 kilometres, near Sala village in Saysathan district, Xayaboury province.
The second quake, with a magnitude of 5.8, occurred at 4.06am near Houay Salad village, also in Saysathan district. It was centred about 10km underground.
Both villages were far from major populated areas and no serious damage had been reported.
The area where the two quakes happened was about 20km southeast of Ban Nam Chang in tambon Khun Nan of Nan's Chalerm Phra Kiat district. The tremors were clearly felt on the Thai side of the border.
Voravit Intachai, chief of the provincial disaster prevention and mitigation office, and Surapol Thiensutra, the mayor of Nan Municipality, sent teams to examine sites in the province prone to earthquake damage.
At Wat Phumin, which is 425 years old, in Muang district, they found new cracks in the main Buddha image, in addition to cracks left by a magnitude 6.4 quake in 2019.
The province has many other sites several hundred years old. They include Wat Phra That Chae Haeng and Wat Phra Thai Khao Noi in Muang district, Wat Phra That Beng Sakad and Wat Ton Laeng in Pua district, and Wat Nong Daeng in Chiang Klang district.