At around 6pm this evening, I was ordering dinner in Jologs at the fourth floor of Lucky Plaza in Orchard Road, Singapore, when my vision started swimming and I thought I was just dizzy. Then I felt the table shaking and heard the people asking if we should head downstairs. Turns out we were in the middle of an earthquake. It was a fairly mild one compared to the ones I’ve experienced in my hometown, and my mind couldn’t help but drift to those memories.
There was that strong earthquake that rattled the windows when I was in fourth year High School. We were hanging out in the CAT office and I initially thought that one of my friends was pulling a prank by shaking the table I was sitting on. But when I looked, no one was touching the table and everything else in the room was shaking too. Aubrey panicked and ran outside like a chicken that had lost its head. Lyn and I stayed seated, knowing that this was the safest move. When the quake stopped, we looked outside and saw that the entire student body was downstairs, so we had no choice but to go down as well.
Then there was that time when we were in Finance class in the fourth floor of the College Building. Sir Fuego was very furious with a classmate and at the precise moment he was yelling the words “When Fuego gets mad – !” the entire building shuddered as though to punctuate his wrath. Scary timing. He wanted to continue his tirade, but the Department of Student Affairs announced over the public address system that everyone was required to evacuate the building, so he had no choice but to let her and us go.
One more time, I was shopping for clothes with my mom in Mindpro Citimall when the entire building started shaking so hard for so long, causing all the people to get hysterical. My heart was trembling as violently as everything else around me, and I ran towards my mother, clinging to her as though she could keep me safe, as though she herself wasn’t terrified about what was happening. Sometimes I miss those moments, when my mother’s presence was enough to make me feel safe and comforted.
My mind is brought back to the present when a bag is plunked in front of my table, a bag with two styrofoam containers of Tapsilog which I had ordered for takeaway earlier. The earthquake had stopped, and no voice announced the need to evacuate the premises, no face showed the slightest trace of concern. If I hadn’t seen the news about it on TV, about how it had been felt all over the island and how it had lasted from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, I would probably wonder if it was all my imagination.
A typhoon, a tsunami, and now an earthquake. Is the end of the world coming? Please don’t let it come now, when I’m so far away from my mommy. I would be terrified and there would be no one to run to for protection.
there's nothing scarier than an earthquake. you feel so helpless.
helpless is so right. at least with a fire or some other calamity you can pick up your valuables and run (or swim). with earthquakes there's nothing you can do.