The age-old saying “There is a first time for everything” once again comes true!
This afternoon at around 14:30hr my desk and floor were not so stable anymore and instantly I knew that I was in the middle of an earthquake!
Now, since it was my first, I did not really know what to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, rationally you know, but when you’re on the 13th floor of a 5yr old building in Beijing, where in 1976 they had a biggie in Tangshan all rationality goes out of the window it seems and makes place for good ol’ panicky feelings.
So after the major waving of the floor and my desk was over, I walked indecisive into the livingroom to see that the lamps were swinging above the dining table. “Hmm not good, leave” was my initial reaction and I got ready to go out. Standing on the hallway, looking at the elevator and realizing that by doing this I probably would have to walk all the stairs both down and up, I went back inside and called Mia who also felt something and had labeled it “being dizzy”. That description I found later back in many of the online forums.
Within 20 minutes the news also hit the western media (read: the websites I can read) so I could read what had happened. Sichuan, not too far away from Chengdu, in a place called Wenchuan, magnitude 7.5-7.8 on Richter’s scale, 4 kids died (so far).
Full stories on:
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7395496.stm
Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSPEK23117420080512
Channel News Asia
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/347154/1/.html
China Daily
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-05/12/content_6678227.htm
Xinhua
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/12/content_8151822.htm
There are many rumours that there will be aftershocks (that you can feel in Beijing again) between 22:00 and 0:00hr tonight, we’ll see what happens. Hopefully the Great Wall will survive the tremors as I have a day trip scheduled there tomorrow…
