Buriram Municipal Building Evacuated After Mysterious Shaking

BURIRAM — More than 100 officials and employees fled a five-storey municipal office building in Buriram after feeling noticeable shaking on Wednesday afternoon, with the strongest movement reported on the fifth floor.

At around 14:00 on 2 September 2026, staff inside Buriram City Municipality's office building in Muang district began feeling the structure shake, particularly from the second floor upward. Workers reportedly rushed out of the building in panic, with desks moving and standing fans swaying on the fifth floor.

At around 15:30, Buriram Deputy Governor Sritham Ratchakaew, accompanied by Pisit Wongthianthana, head of the Buriram Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Office, and civil engineering officials, inspected the building with Buriram City Mayor Anuchit Lueangchaisee and municipal engineering officials.

A preliminary inspection of the fourth and fifth floors, where the shaking was most noticeable, found no new cracks or structural abnormalities. Existing cracks were found to have predated the incident, with no damage linked to the shaking detected. Similar reports of shaking were also received from other buildings in Muang Buriram, including Taweekit shopping mall and Robinson Buriram.

Sritham confirmed that the building remained in normal condition with no new structural damage caused by the shaking. However, Phatthana Monthon, director of the Buriram Meteorological Station, said the shaking did not correspond to an earthquake according to checks by the Earthquake Observation Division. No data was recorded by the station's ground acceleration instruments at the time of the incident.

Phatthana said several possible explanations remained under investigation, including the movement of underground soil or water cavities, while other causes could not yet be ruled out. He stressed that the incident was definitely not an earthquake.