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Engineers inspect 71-story tower in China after mysterious shaking

By Don Johnson
The SEG Plaza is seen in Shenzhen, China, on Wednesday after it was evacuated due to unexplained shaking. Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE
The SEG Plaza is seen in Shenzhen, China, on Wednesday after it was evacuated due to unexplained shaking. Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE

May 19 (UPI) -- Engineers conducted inspections on Wednesday of a skyscraper in southern China after it began swaying for no discernible reason.

The 71-story SEG Plaza building in Shenzhen was evacuated Tuesday when it began the unexplained movements. Experts have not yet been able to find a reason for the wobble.

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Officials and experts have largely ruled out weather and an earthquake and no apparent structural issues have been found.

The shaking on Tuesday lasted for a few minutes.

About 15,000 people were inside the building, according to the official newspaper of the Shenzhen Municipal Communist Party Committee. No injuries were reported.

The skyscraper, the 18th tallest structure in Shenzhen, was built in 2000 and houses a major electronics market and other business offices. The city has a population of about 13 million.

The building is named after Shenzhen Electronics Group, a semiconductor and electronics manufacturer with offices in the tower.

Some have wondered about the integrity of the building's construction 20 years ago, since certain Chinese skyscrapers have been built in record time.

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In 2015, a Chinese construction company claimed to be the world's fastest builder after erecting a 57-story skyscraper in just 19 working days.

Poor construction standards in the country have been a concern for years. A hotel and a restaurant collapsed in China last year. Beijing officials have prohibited building skyscrapers taller than 1,640 feet.

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