Two days ago, while doing our routine work and some occasional conversation with a co-worker, the floor began shaking and everything on the ceiling began swinging.
We were temporarily immobilized from the initial shock and only returned to our senses after hearing some people shouting and seeing them rushing towards the exit.
I am not new to earthquakes but that was only my 2nd time experiencing that strong which lasted for more than a minute. Honestly, I don't know what to do at that time. I was rooted where I'm standing and unable to decide whether to take cover or run towards the exit at the risk of having something heavy fall on me while I watched people running.
While deciding, I gathered my senses and quickly looked up and chose to move where there are no pipes or beams overhead. It's quite ironic that on that few seconds, I noticed and realized many things almost at the same time. How the pipes, beams, lightings and all sorts of wires are violently shaking as if they are intentionally being ripped off by a strong invisible hand. How the co-worker I was chatting with a few moments ago desperately cling on me from too much fear. How the guy near me was frantically calling God in a preaching manner. How I realized that if the roof was to ever collapse, I will be flattened for sure. I can't help but ask myself these: will I day today? Will it be quick or will I suffer a long and horrible pain?
And then I gathered the courage to run towards the exit making sure to not close the belt segments where people can pass through. I dashed towards the door and hurriedly picked up my door badge to open the lock but it did not work the first time! I calmly swiped it again and fortunately it opened on my 2nd attempt and we quickly used the stairs to reach the ground floor and ultimately outside the building's evacuation area where we checked everyone's attendance and luckily, aside from crying people, no one actually got hurt.
I immediately checked the local news and here are what I found out:
After more than an hour, the work resumed but several areas had some debris on it while some had a little bit of minor flooding.
Earthquakes could happen anywhere in the world and they occur many times in East Asian countries inside the region called the Pacific Ring of Fire.
So for locals and travallers, I hope everyone is safe and are doing great. To panic is a usual initial reaction but make sure to compose yourself and harden your mind to have a clearer grasp of the situation to increase your chances of survival. And after experiencing a life and death situation, we usually ask ourselves this very important question that we always take for granted - now that I survived, how can I make my life better?
And this happened on the very eve of my birthday. What a birthday surprise indeed.
We would never know when disasters would strike so it is important to familiarize ourselves with basic disaster responses by reading related articles, vlogs, educational contents and videos.
Below are some websites which you may find helpful regarding disaster preparedness:
http://redcross.org/get-help/disaster-relief-and-recovery-services/safety-immediate-aftermath.html
https://ncdp.columbia.edu/training-education/
Thank you for reading my post and have a safe, fun and productive day ahead :)