One of the tallest buildings in China mysteriously started to shake, causing a mass exit from the skyscraper.
Completed in 2000, the SEG Plaza started to wobble at around 1 pm and prompted an emergency evacuation.
People outside the tower watched as the 980ft skyscraper in the southern city of Shenzhen began to sway.
According to local reports, nobody was hurt and authorities closed the building. They are still investigating as to what caused the structure to move.
One theory shared by a chief engineer at China Construction Science and Industry Corp said that the incident could be caused by mechanical resonance, which happens when the natural oscillations of the structure time up with an external force.
Lu Jianxin told the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily: “If there was no earthquake today, it would be unusual for SEG Plaza to have such a situation. Judging from the currently available information, this could be an accidental frequency coincidence, that is, resonance.”
A local weather report showed a wind speed of only 27mph at that time.
“After checking and analysing the data of various earthquake monitoring stations across the city, there was no earthquake in Shenzhen today,” the statement said. “The cause of the shaking is being verified by various departments.”
Videos filmed by bystanders showed the building swaying as hundreds of terrified shoppers and pedestrians ran for their lives.
Ji Jialin, who was on the 14th floor when the horrifying incident occurred, told the South China Morning Post: “The shaking didn’t seem strong from the 14th floor… we all escaped with others by taking the stairs.”
Last May, a 5-story quarantine hotel in Quanzhou collapsed because of shoddy construction, taking the lives of 29.
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