Huaqiangbei File photo: VCG

The Emergency Management Bureau in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, weighed in after video footages showed local residents in the city, one of the four tier-1 megacities in China, fleeing away scared, after a nearby skyscraper looks wobbling.

The bureau said Tuesday afternoon that it is probing why the SEG Plaza wobbled, which is a 355-meter-high iconic building in the city. It added that there was no earthquake striking the city or nearby areas on Tuesday.

At around 1pm on Tuesday, hundreds of people were seen running into the street near the plaza, and the video clips were among the most viewed on China's Sina Weibo on Tuesday.

It is reported that the plaza has been temporarily evacuated and now sealed off. Fire department and police are examining the case.

Swaying usually only occurs when there is an earthquake and that it would be abnormal for the SEG Plaza to wobble if there is no earthquake, Lu Jianxin, a senior engineer from China State Construction Engineering Corporation, told a local newspaper.

"Judging from what's published, this could be a sheer conincidence - resonance," Lu explained, noting that this is only his guess.

In a post on its official Sina Weibo account on Tuesday afternnon, the local government of Futian district where the plaza is located said that the plaza's staffers on duty received tenants' reports at 12:31 pm about feeling the building vibrating. The building's management then swiftly notified people in the building of an emergency evacuation. By 1:55 pm, all people were safely evacuated. 

The Futian district government immediately launched an emergency response, and relevant departments of the district have arranged for experts to examine the safety of the building. The preliminary investigation results revealed no ground cracks in the surrounding area, and no signs of curtain wall panels falling off and causing damage, read the Weibo post. 

The specifics and cause of the incident are under further investigation and will be made public in a timely manner, it said.

The building stopped vibrating at 1:30 pm and no safety abnormalities have been found in the building's main structure and its surrounding area, the city's housing and construction bureau also said in a post on its official Weibo account later in the day.

Reiterating that there are no ground cracks, the bureau said that the building's interior steel structure and its decorative surfaces are in normal condition. The cause of the vibration is still being investigated, according to the bureau, noting that the building's main structure remains safe.

Completed in 2000 and located at the city's renowned Huaqiangbei Electronics Market, it stands 356 meters tall when the antenna height is included. 

Shenzhen SEG Co issued an official statement on Wednesday, saying the company holds a total of 39,900 square meters of the property, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, the Shenzhen SEG Property Management Co, is in charge of the SEG Plaza's management. Everything else is under investigation, read the statement. The share prices of the company fell 7% on Monday.

In the global height rank by the skyscrapercenter.com, the SEG Plaza is the 104th tallest building in China and the 212nd tallest in the world.

Global Times