Just after 2am this morning I was rattled out of bed. The room was shaking as I fumbled for the light and attempted to get dressed. Was it an earthquake or was I dreaming? I was pretty sure of the former as it wasn’t just me shaking – coat-hangers were knocking against the closet and the front door was vibrating in its frame.
I was expecting to hear a siren and people rushing the corridor, though nothing and after 20 or 30 seconds it had died down. It later occurred to me that staying in ones room was probably the best thing to do anyway – if it were really bad, would you really have any better luck going down 18 flights of stairs?
Looking out the window, 101 didn’t appear to be swaying and not much else was happening. Eventually an ambulance or police van drove by lights flashing and siren wailing. I went back to bed with a feeling of motion sickness, a bit like turbulence except it was side to side rather than up and down shaking.
Needless to say I didn’t sleep much after that. After four I felt a milder aftershock. Time to get on the net and find out what was happening… The red circles on the right are recent quakes – the bigger the circle, the bigger the size. Taiwan is obscured by the two red, one yellow and lots of purple (old quakes).
The 2:05am event was a 6.3 about 100 miles away from Taipei, though closer to the eastern coast. No news yet of damage or Tsunami in the area.
Seismographs are also available for those that are interested…
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