Taiwan Experiences the Strongest Earthquake since 1999!

 And the Podolny's were here to experience it!

                                       

I was sitting right in front of that wall of glass looking at my computer when the earthquake hit at 7:58am this morning.  It happened very suddenly and started out strong.  The kids were still sleeping, Michael had just gone to take his shower.  So I am sitting there with my back to the wall of glass, watching the walls sway3-4" from right to left and then back and over and over.  I am thinking - how much stronger does the earthquake have to be for the walls to fall in and the ceiling to collapse!  How many stories are above us - do we have a chance to get out?  

Alex and Jojo were shocked awake and both pop out of their rooms.  Jojo says - Grandma, what are you doing sitting in front of all that glass.  I moved.  The quake didn't last very long and shortly after they both went back to bed.  Jojo popped out again in a few minutes when we had the first after shock.  Then went back to bed again.    After shocks went on all morning.  I read somewhere that there were over 25.  I don't remember feeling that many - some of them were strong enough that the wine glasses hanging upside down on racks started swaying.

Michael had been on the toilet when it hit - he has told how that felt.  I wondered what it would have felt like to be in the shower.  How would it feel to have the water on you one second and then move away repeated again and a shower was made of glass.  So I checked - it is not.  

Everyone was awake by 11am.  It wasn't until then that we thought about checking for damage.  The most noticeable things were the pictures that had fallen to the floor or baskets with fake plants that were on the floor with the leaves having fallen off.  But then we started to notice the cracks in the walls.

This is the area above the kitchen sink - the window is to the right.  All of the windows in this apartment are opaque - you can't see outside at all.  They do let in a little light.  In our house in ABQ I am used to looking out windows to see nature - especially upstairs where I can see for miles.  I feel claustrophobic being in this apartment.

Damage from ceiling to floor in one of the bedrooms.

All the walls have these cracks in them.  They usually go up and down and then horizontal as well.

We checked in with our Airbnb contact - who had never experienced an earthquake.  We asked him questions which he/she could not answer.  We had him check with the owner - to see how safe it is to stay in the apartment.  What about using the gas stove?  Everything is fine - we were told.  So we turned on the stove and made eggs for breakfast.  Nothing blew up.  

What about our plans for the day?  We had planned to go to Tomsui - which is on the waterfront.  Ops - there are tsunami warnings out for up to 10 foot high waves.  Maybe not the best day for it.  Using the underground metro today - maybe not.  It was closed down for awhile after the quake.  All train service was stopped.  But was in operation a short time later.  

The epicenter of the quake was in Hualien.  We visited there in 2017 - it is about 3 hours away.  Many buildings collapsed there.  Four people died and almost 100 were injured.  AS of a few minutes ago they are still searching for people trapped in those buildings.  Here it seems most buildings have the same kind of damage we have had.   Just looked at the Wall Street Journal - they say 7 people dead and 736 people injured.  I suspect numbers will go up.  I also heard aftershocks could go on for 3-4 days.  

As my husband keeps saying - I think experiencing one earthquake is enough for a lifetime!