Fully equipped officials from Thailand’s Department of Mineral Resources will visit Pai Lom sub-district in Bang Krathum district of Phitsanuloke province to investigate the 4.5 magnitude earthquake early this morning, which is believed to have been caused by a hidden or blind fault.

Suwith Kosuwan, director of the Bureau of Environmental Geology and a volcano expert, said today (Thursday) that the 4.5 magnitude quake, which took place shortly after midnight and was felt in nearby provinces, was not caused by one of the 16 known faults in Thailand.

The epicentre of the quake was detected at about five kilometres below ground in Pai Lom sub-district.

He said he will call a meeting today to assess the effects of the tremor and will send a team to the site of the earthquake for an investigation.

Meanwhile, Phitsanuloke Governor Phusit Somchit ordered the district officer of Bang Krathum district, officials from the public disaster prevention and mitigation and civil works to check for damage to buildings and other structures which might have been caused by the tremor.

Klaharn Taraksa, chief of the provincial highways office, said that the quake this morning is regarded as serious in engineering terms, because Phitsanuloke is not on a fault line.

He said that major bridges and high-rise buildings in the province need to be checked for potential damage.

There are about 40 bridges of various sizes in the province.