My First Time Experiencing an Earthquake @ Kaohsiung in Taiwan

The time was about 12.17 am and I was happily in dreamland at Chateau de Chine Hotel in Kaohsiung when I felt someone shaking me. No, nothing paranormal. I opened my eyes and found a frantic Alex screaming at me to quickly get out! 

Honestly, I thought sensitive him must have encountered a ghost and wanted to get the hell out of the room! I focused and the actual words coming out from his mouth were: "There's an earthquake! We have to leave!" That's when I realized the room was swaying! 

Rushing down the exit staircase, with a pair slippers, sleeveless t-shirt and short pants and without my phone and spectacles, in my half-awoke state, to the lobby as the lifts were already not working; we stepped out of the hotel and "embraced" the cold air of around 15 degrees celcius.  

After around ten minutes in the open, I insisted on returning to the hotel room despite strong objections from Alex! Knowing how jittery he can get when it comes to such matters, I promised it was just to gather warm clothing, take my phone, wear my glasses and back to the great outdoors again. 

With the informative device (my phone, that is) safely in my hands, I noticed the emergency president alerts and a search revealed that there was an earthquake at Chiayi, where we came from earlier that day! The estimated magnitude of the earthquake was said to be 5.3 on the Richter scale.

A confirmation later in the day indicated that it's 6.4 on the Richter scale at its epicentre in Chiayi, and by the time it reached Kaohsiung, the tremors had reduced to about 5.0. Now, I can't imagine how bad would a 8.0 be since it was already quite terrifying for us at 5.0! 

Spent more than an hour in the open (the area as above, albeit a street view on Google Maps in the daytime) as Alex was dead worried of aftershocks. By then, I was exhausted whereas Alex had struck a lively conversation with a local Taiwanese from Hualien, a county that just faced an earthquake of over 7.0 at the Richter scale less than a year ago. 

We proceeded to a pretty full 24-hour McDonald's outlet for some beverages and after collecting the hot chocolate and finding a seat on the second floor; an alert was pushed to all the mobile phones! Imagine all phones in the fast food eatery sounding all at the same time! 

So, back to the open area whereas 90% of the customers remained in the restaurant! Frankly, I think Taiwanese are generally quite unfazed with earthquakes in general. And for both of us scaredy-cat Singaporeans (more Alex than I), it was an experience we hope not to experience again. 

p.s. Alex should have found somewhere to hide in the room, under a table or something, instead of dragging me down to the ground level. 

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Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)