Koon Saw-Ung, 75, has spent most of the past two months sleeping in a open-air shack outside her home.
A woman points at cracks on the wall of her house in Buri Ram's Satuk district. A petroleum drilling site nearby has been blamed for causing the damage. Residents also claim the site is responsible for several other instances of property damage in the village. Thanarak Khunton
The elderly resident of Satuk district in Buri Ram was too afraid to sleep inside her single-storey house until three days ago, when members of her family finally convinced her to return.
Ms Koon started sleeping outside after experiencing earthquake-like shocks from a seismic survey operation being carried out some 180 metres away.
She began spending most of her days and nights in a small open-air shelter next to her house and would only go indoors to cook and use the bathroom.
Ms Koon used to live alone, but her relatives have now moved in and are taking turns to watch her.
Ms Koon and her daughter Kanchana Sengdee, 44, first experienced the seismic shocks caused by Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Company's petroleum exploration work on Aug 14.
Shaanxi hired a Chinese geological survey company, BGP Inc, to conduct a seismic survey between July and August in four Buri Ram districts including Satuk. The operation involved burying ammonium nitrate explosives 20 metres deep in the ground to create seismic shocks.
Ms Koon's family was having meal when they heard a series of explosions which shook the house and forced them to run outside. Some felt dizzy and vomited.
Soon after the detonation, they found cracks in the walls of Ms Koon's 14-year-old house. The shocks also caused the floor to subside and the ceiling to sag.
The cracks in her home have been getting worse. A relative who works in construction has been measuring and marking them on the walls, along with the dates.
Shaanxi offered Ms Koon 10,000 baht in compensation for the damage to her home and told her the survey was safe. But her family rejected the offer.
Last Tuesday, her family took her to hospital for the third time since Shaanxi's survey began.
She was diagnosed with depression. The illness has been preventing her from sleeping and eating properly, although her neighbours said she was once the "healthiest elderly person" in the area, caring for more than 100 rai of rice and sugarcane farmland on her own.
She has been unable to rest even with the aid of sleeping pills and has lost seven kilogrammes in weight since her first experience of the shocks.
"My health has deteriorated. I couldn't stop thinking that I might lose my house," she told the Bangkok Post. "I've maintained it for my family for the future."
Village chiefs have received complaints from more than 10 residents who said their homes have been damaged since the company started using explosives in its search for oil.
Another 70 villagers accused the company of trespassing on their land and burying explosives on their property without giving them proper notification.
Farmer Tongkam Srisa-ard, 47, showed the Bangkok Post three holes that had been drilled in his rice fields.
After the seismic survey was over, a tree in his field collapsed and he is now worried about the condition of his land. Other villagers said their fields are less capable of holding water since explosives were used to create seismic shocks nearby.
Villagers opposing the petroleum survey claimed that some local leaders supported the company's operation. They said these village leaders either told residents to stay quiet or helped encourage others to support Shaanxi's work, reasoning the exploration would help improve the local economy.
Satuk district council member Utai Nopnom said the survey has inflicted mental trauma on villagers mentally, many of whom had been forced to live under unacceptable circumstances.
But BGP insisted that it sought permission from villagers to use their land in the survey.
The company said it has paid villagers between 700 baht and 50,000 baht in compensation for damage caused to their properties by the work.
BGP notified villagers before the explosions via local radio stations and erected red flags at the spots where explosives would be used. The entire survey involved 6,000 explosions, the company said.
Ms Kanchana has lodged several complaints with agencies including the Office of the Ombudsman, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Energy, the Buri Ram governor's office and the National Human Rights Commission.
Responding to her complaint, ombudsman Sriracha Charoenpanich visited Ms Koon's house on Wednesday to inspect the damage. Other state authorities have yet to reply.
The villagers told Mr Sriracha they doubted the claim by the Department of Mineral Fuels that seismic surveys do not require environmental impact assessments, because they do not affect the surrounding environment.
Last month, the department gave Shaanxi the green light to continue with the survey despite residents' calls for it to suspend the operation. Officials said the company met their safety and environmental requirements.
Mr Sriracha told residents that he will ask the department about the environmental impact assessment issue and vowed to monitor the situation closely.
He said he would also ask a provincial committee to follow up on the residents' complaints. A investigation panel was set up two weeks ago in response to villager complaints, but is yet to send anyone to visit the affected areas.
Ms Koon's relatives told the Bangkok Post that Mr Sriracha's visit appears to helped ease her worries.
"We feel relieved to see her return to her house. We hope she will get better soon," her daughter said.
"Many villagers have been suffering anxiety because of all this. We hope the problem will be solved with fairness and transparency."