Earthquakes
Residents in Chiang Mai province felt a long period of shaking but saw no major damage. High-rise buildings swayed slowly for at least half a minute in Bangkok, startling residents.
The US Geological Survey said the 6.1 magnitude quake on Thursday morning was about 10 kilometers below the surface.
It was centered in northwestern Laos, about 31 kilometers from Chaloem Phrakiat district in Nan province.
Moderate quakes of 4.6 and 5.7 magnitude shook the same area overnight.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the earthquake, which the agency said hit at a depth of 26 km (16 miles), and a distance of about 120 km (75 miles) west of the state's Suchiate region.
Earlier, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre monitoring agency had put the quake magnitude at 6.2.

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck southeast France on November 11, damaging buildings and injuring four people. The small town of Le Teil suffered some of the worse damage, with hundreds of structures cracked and crumbling, such as the one pictured here in the town's Rouviere quarter.
Fears of explosions at the nearby nuclear energy plant flooded into his mind. Bastie, a high school biology and geology teacher, rushed outside expecting to see the bloom of a mushroom cloud. But as he soon discovered, the shaking came from something less devastating but still surprising for the region: an earthquake that cracked through the ground.
Clocking in at 4.8 magnitude, the temblor damaged numerous buildings and injured four people. It also left scientists buzzing over a number of curious features. For one, while France is no stranger to temblors, they are often quite small, explains seismologist Jean-Paul Ampuero of the Université Côte d'Azur in France. Monday's event was only of moderate intensity by global measures, but it was a "very large one for French standards," he says.
Comment: Just today another quake was recorded, although not in the same region, at M3.7 4 km W of Le Puy-Notre-Dame at 09:04 local time:
Everything is changing: the composition of the atmosphere; the electric charge differential between atmosphere, ground and sub-surface layers; the core itself is heating up if one theory for 'El Nino' is correct; even the Sun is behaving differently... there's gonna be a whole lotta strange in the next few years!
See also:
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- Several injured as rare 5.4M earthquake strikes southeast France - UPDATE: Earthquake revised down to 4.9M
- Southern California hit by 7.1 magnitude earthquake just one day after M6.4 tremor - the largest for 20 years
- Huge earth crack several hundred miles long opens up in Pakistan
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- Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: Interview with Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Pierre Lescaudron
A tsunami threat message was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) for all coasts within 300km of the epicenter, affecting a number of Indonesian islands within the hour. Residents were advised to remain alert and seek instructions from local authorities.

Earthquakes reported between November 11 and 12. The cluster of red dots corresponds to the Askja swarm.
Sitting atop the spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge and one of the planet's hotspots, Iceland is famous for its seismic activity. There are about 130 volcanoes on the island and 30 active volcanic systems.
While volcanic behaviour is difficult to predict, researchers do look for certain seismic signs that indicate an eruption might be imminent. Over the past week, one of Iceland's volcanoes has been attracting attention. On November 6th, an earthquake swarm began at the Askja volcano, located on the eastern part of the island. Since then, roughly 700 earthquakes have been reported at the site, the largest of which was Magnitude 3.4.
Icelandic officials continue to monitor the volcano's activity, although, at the moment, they say the swarm is more likely due to the movement of the continental ridge rather than tremors involving the volcano itself, adding that swarms "occur regularly" around Askja.
The epicenter, with a depth of 10.0 km, was initially determined to be at 18.9038 degrees south latitude and 175.3695 degrees west longitude.
Comment: This is not normal. And what an auspicious day for it to occur on... Armistice Day.
Four people have been injured in an earthquake of rare intensity in France, which was felt from Lyon to Montpellier.
The quake, which didn't cause any major damage, was magnitude 5.4 and struck just before noon in the Ardèche region, in the southeast of the country, the French Central Seismological Office (BCSF) in Strasbourg said in a statement.
It was felt mainly in the Drôme and Ardèche regions, particularly around Montélimar where a person was seriously injured by falling scaffolding.
Three other people were slightly injured in the Ardèche "following a panic attack", the Drôme prefecture said on Twitter.
Montelimar's mayor, Franck Reynier, urged residents not to overload the emergency services with calls, adding: "We will keep you informed as we go along." He has been tweeting safety measures, and reported a crack in a building, and a fallen chimney.
Comment: Following the quake, they shut down a nearby nuclear power station in Cruas, Ardeche.
There have been 5 - let's say - 'significant' quakes in France in just the last year:
France's largest in the modern era was a 6.2M in 1909...
Other events in France in the last month or so:
- Deadly storms batter southern France - nearly 5 inches of rain in under 3 hours recorded - UPDATE: Three people killed
- Second freak tornado to touch down in France this week
Thousands evacuated and homes damaged in French quake
Many old buildings were severely affected, with the commune of Teil reporting the most damage
More than 8,500 people have been evacuated and hundreds of buildings dangerously weakened in southeast France, as the extent of the damage from yesterday's 5.4 magnitude earthquake emerges.
The quake struck on Monday, November 11, at 11h51. It lasted around 10 seconds.
According to AP, citing an emergency official, a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in northwestern Iran killed at least 5 people and injured 300 others. Earlier media reports have put the death toll at 3 persons, while suggesting that only 20 people were injured.
The magnitude of the tremors was later downgraded by the EMSC to 5.6, while the initial report suggested that the northwestern region of Iran had been hit by a more powerful quake.
The epicenter of the quake, initially reported as a magnitude 6.0, was located some 65 km (40 miles) of Herowabad.
Comment: A few hours earlier a shallow earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck off Mexico's Chiapas.