Earthquakes Are Not Fun
The moment I felt the building sway, I stopped typing, and looked around. I was sitting on my bed, writing some code for my project. I thought it was just me, so I shrugged it off - but remained alert. Few seconds later I felt it again. Hell, I jumped up and immediately put on my jeans, preparing to freakin’ leave the building. Then, I deliberated over what to take along. My laptop, yes. I can’t live without all the important files inside it. While I was about to lower the screen, I saw a friend’s Yahoo Messenger status asking if anybody felt the shakes. We had a little chat - he assured that an evacuation wouldn’t be necessary, and added that most parts of the peninsular could feel the tremors too.
I felt damn silly. I had yet to know about the earthquakes which struck Indonesia earlier. I looked out of the window of my 6th floor apartment - everything was calm; and then I observed the bottle of water on my table for ripples. Negative. Relieved, guess what I did next? Pointed my browser to PPS. Heck, yea. It’s the perfect source for latest news and info. After some surfing, I learnt that there indeed had been an earthquake, measuring about 6.3 on the Richter scale. My housemates said they felt the shakes too. This reminded us of the previous shakes caused by the massive quakes in Aceh (Dec ‘04), during which hundreds of people evacuated their apartment. Today though, none of them seemed even worried.
I resumed my work shortly after. My heart goes out to the people directly affected by the quakes. As of 9:45pm (Malaysian time) today, the death toll had risen to 70. More updates here.
06 Mar 2007 narrowband
this morning, i was in the lab in my college, abt 11am, i felt it too, immediatly i stop my tying, i turned around and ask my friend whether they felt it too, they do. i check out earthquake live report, but no updates just yet… my friend says it could be a heavy thing drop on the floor as there is a contructions going on near my college… damn, never tot it could be real!
I was sitting on the couch watching TV when I felt the sofa move. A very slight rocking motion. Thought I was imagining until I saw a stand fan nearby swaying. Just a couple of seconds but I tell ya, my heart almost stopped. I am living at the 9th floor. Quickly text’d my hubby and he told me he heard on the radio about the earthquake in Indonesia!
Heavy thing drop on floor.. ehe. It wasn’t just a vibration - I felt the ground swaying. From where I was sitting, as if the whole building rocked back and forth!
Since I was sitting on the bed, I thought my mind was playing tricks, so I even tried rocked my ass on the bed myself to simulate the experience. It didn’t feel the same.
bkworm, I can imagine those living on higher floors feeling ’stronger’ sways. I was so afraid the building couldn’t take the swaying!
I didnt feel anything at all, but i found out about the earthquake from my brother who sent me an SMS complaining his classes got cancelled due to the tremors. At first he bluffed me by saying the indo gov approached MMU’s lecturers on how to tackle the tsunami just in case if it happens, thats why all the lecturers had to have an emergency meeting asap, hence the cancelled classes, IDIOT! Kena tipu like that :(
Is the A2 building still solid? Please do ask your most senior housemate on the ‘04 shake. All of us were mad running down the stairs.. Dunno for wat really.. but damn, both this occasion, i felt nothing.. terrible sensitivity la.. Good topic, to say that earthquake is not fun, it really isn’t..:)
Geez…I’ve never experienced it before. Guess it must be pretty scary as we never feel the tremors last time but it’s all a different story now. Yeap, truly agree…earthquake ain’t fun but scary :(
I didn’t feel anything either.
I realise 1 thing…there are more and more natural disasters happening nowadays. End of the world coming?
Julee I can’t believe you’d buy that story. LOL.
Jian - As solid as my.. uhm, nvm. It’s rock solid baby!
Grace - Y’know the first time I missed the tremors (Dec ‘04) I thought to myself “I wonder how it felt like”. Now that I know, I wish I’ll never need to experience it again! At least not when I’m on some high-rise building!
Che-cheh, I don’t want the world to end so quickly :(. There’s alot to be done. But I agree that at the rate it’s going, the earth is becoming more and more violent, and sick. I’d love to watch An Inconvenient Truth, it’s said to be a very good showcase of what’s happening to our world.
Thanks for dropping by, everyone!
this will sound weird but in Sibu here, I can’t imagine how it feels like you said the shaking i mean. It must have very frightening for those living in high rises.
My experienced was during the Tsunami and after (2nd quake), it was really horrible moment for everyone. The 2nd quake was worst than the 1st hit (Tsunami). However the recent quake doesn’t affect my office there.
Hey — is this the same narrowband from narrowband.blogspot? If so, hi! Still remember me? =)
Beng, it’s indeed frightening when you’re on higher floors. You’d just hope the building could withstand the swaying!
Kenny - Thankfully the recent one was milder. In any case, it must be much more devastating in places where the quakes really took place. We’re merely feeling the passing tremors!
Hey Bren, of course I do! It’s been a while, eh? You’ve moved as well, I see! Glad to be ‘reconnected’ again!
when it happened to me… my hands were shaking and i tot i had parkinson disease!
Okay, Parkinson’s would be the last on my mind ;p. The shakes I felt weren’t very ‘vigorous’.. they were just ‘building-sway’s… Like, slow-motion.