earthquake!
last september 23rd i was on the computer at around 1am when suddenly i felt some movement- the building began rocking back and forth, accompanied by all sorts of creaks and groans. at its peak it was fairly severe- as much as i ever felt when i was living in tokyo. the frightening part was i had previously read that bangkok almost never experiences earthquakes, so the buildings aren't built to withstand them. also i wasn't entirely sure that it was a quake- perhaps the ground was subsiding from underneath the building or was improperly built and starting to collapse as happens from time to time here.
i jumped up and stood in my bathroom doorway (something i'm sure would have helped if the building had started to collapse) trying to call my friends to see if anyone else felt anything. the earthquake seemed to go on for a long time but in reality only lasted around 15-20 seconds or so. everyone i called was asleep but finally i reached a friend on radjadamri who had felt it- but had assumed it was just the effects of the beer he had drank. I joined some chat rooms and found more people who also felt the quake, mostly those living in taller buildings like myself.
the next day cracks were found in all seasons place where my secretary's husband works and everyone who works there was sent home for the day. not very nice for those who live there!
as you see from the usgs website, the eartquake was a strong one at 6.6 but was far away. i hope there is never a strong earthquake near bangkok as most of the buildings here aren't very safe.
posted by jeremy @ 5:18 PM
6 Comments:
Glad you are ok; I've never been in one, that must be freaky.
I remember that quake. Fortunately, I wasn't in a high-rise building at the time, and so it wasn't that scary for me. Glad you were safe, though! I sure do hope BKK never experiences a massive earthquake... man, it would be utter pandemonium if that were to happen.
BTW, about that MCM VJ friend of yours... I don't remember his name, but he didn't happen to be the guy who did the afternoon shows and dressed up in Flinstone-type outfits, was he? Heh, I used to watch MCM all the time back in high school. Anyways, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment at my site. Have a great week!
hiya bkksoul! did you feel the earthquake when it happened? amazing how many people (incl. all of my office staff) had no idea until they were told, read about it in the paper, or were told to leave their office. the next day was interesting as the radio apparently aired a couple of false reports of aftershocks and a couple of buildings in silom were evacuated.
oops... almost forgot about mcm. my friend's name is kip- dunno if he dressed up as a flintstone person but entirely possible! if you do a google search for mcm thailand kip you ought to see some stuff from a couple of years ago.
yeah, i remember my first quake experience in tokyo. i was confused, freaked, and excited at the same time. didn't feel that BKK quake in sept. '03 though. i'd definitely be more freaked to experience one here!
About the earthquake, the funny thing is that I sort of felt it, but didn't realize it was an earthquake at the time (haha, you'd think I'd know what was going on, seeing as how I was in the California '89 earthquake). Anyways, I heard some odd rumbling and shifting noises, but just ignored it because I was too busy typing away at my computer during the late hours of the night, cramming because I'd waited till the last minute to finish up my Pathology paper. =P
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