Six point something

We had an earthquake here

It's between 6.1 - 6.6, according to different sources.
I'm asleep so watch this space, I plan to add more at a later time

But it was freaking scary here on the eleventh floor. At least as scary, possibly more, than Loma Prieta.

more later

eta-

So that earthquake was pretty scary. It was easily right up there with the Loma Prieta 1989. Scarier, actually. The Loma Prieta happened in the afternoon, I was home with my mom and sister, that earthquake lasted longer than most earthquakes do (which usually only lasts long enough for you to blink and then wonder, hey, was that an earthquake?). So the three of us had enough time to duck and cover. Well. Actually for some reason we couldn't get under the table. ? So the three of us jumped under the hallway between the dining and living rooms. A large vase crashed. (And also ended forever a desire to collect breakable items like porcelain and glassware.)

But you know what helped make it not scary? My mom was there, and it was the first floor. I was pretty sure I'd be able to walk out the front door alive. Or the roof. A roof collapse probably would have only maimed me but not killed me.

Not so for this earthquake. 6.1? 6.6? accounts vary.
11th floor.

I figured that it was a newish building and was built to current standards. But that high up, wow, we were rocking for a while. I was watching a video and noted the time just before ducking under our huge table. I was pretty sure the table would be solid, barring something really major. It's thick. However, I was kinda freaked when it kept going and going, and it was pretty wavy and a smidgen nauseous. Also I kept thinking, dammit, the phone is in the next room, I am in my thinnest black dress, I don't have socks or house slippers on. And my cell phone is in the next room. And my parents are off in class tonight and I Am By MYSELF. Argh.

It seemed to pause for a while and then seemed to pick up again. I waited a good long while, I'm pretty sure the building kept shaking for a while after the quake stopped. When I finally ventured out after being absolutely certain we weren't going to start up again, I checked the video time and it read 2:10, almost 2 minutes after I last checked (video was maybe around 0:30 seconds when it started?). Wow.


Parents were not as impressed as I. This was not their scariest earthquake. I sent them a text message saying that I was fine and the house was fine. Didn't even get a response. I guess they weren't worried.

It was 8:04pm, I had planned to head over to my cousin's house (um several hours earlier), since we were planning to take the train together the next morning for her marathon in Hualien. Turns out that's where the epicenter was. Gack. I also didn't want to leave my parents' house for my cousin's anymore, which was a building 30 years older. I called to cancel the overnight and tell her I'd meet her in the morning. (p.s. They kept the race, but canceled half of it, because it was in the rockslide prone Taroko Gorge.)

My relatives, too, were not impressed. They thought that the '99 earthquake was much worse (oh, it definitely was). (My parents weren't here for that. But they've lived in Taiwan for a number of years before I was born. So hey.) But for me, this was way up there. Probably the scariest. Even though nothing broke. Being alone will do that to you.

Fortunately my Chinese teacher backed me up on this. I had lunch with her a couple of weeks later. They were on the upper floors of buildings too. And closer to my age than my parents. 

There was a significant aftershock again after 11pm, though it didn't wake up my parents. 

I filled out a USGS form, and sadly gave away my first impressions on a form that didn't stick around and leave myself a copy. So these are memories after the fact.