Disaster preparedness is one of those items that usually
resides somewhere at the bottom of my to-do list. Feeling our apartment building sway back and
forth last night bumped the “figure out what to do in an earthquake” task to
the top of my list.
Not to worry, the earthquake we experienced was minor and as
far as I know did not disrupt life in any way here in Taipei. The physical sensation was much different than
I expected, probably due to watching too many Hollywood style earthquakes in
movies. I felt instantly dizzy and
almost drunk because of the building subtly swaying back and forth. It wasn't a shake or even a quake as I had
expected. This may be because we are on
the 5th floor – I’m not sure how it felt on the ground.
The quake registered
a 4.7 on the Richter scale, which would make headlines back home in Missouri,
but hardly made the news here in Taiwan. In 1999, there was a massive quake in
central Taiwan that killed thousands and injured tens of thousands. Over 50,000 buildings were completely
destroyed, causing USD$10 billion in damage.
It was the worst earthquake in 100 years and exposed the country’s lack
of preparedness. Since that terrible
quake, known as the “921 Earthquake”, construction and emergency preparedness
have greatly improved.
 |
| Damage after the 921 earthquake |
Since we are now
living on the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, we should probably figure out what the
heck to do with ourselves if we experience a major quake while we are here. Luckily, there is an emergency shelter
underneath the large park that is very near to our apartment. Other than that, we’ll make sure to have
extra food and water in case of water lines being broken and electricity outage
that will make food purchases difficult.
Should keep a helmet on Abel’s head 24/7 just in case? Probably not, but
hopefully I won’t be caught as off guard next time the building sways.
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