Earrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrthquaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakke!

12 September 2007 late 7pmish on a Wed evening on 60th floor of Republic Plaza

I'm still stuck in the office. Boo hoo! In fact, the office is still packed at this time. After staring at the computer the whole day, the words on the screen start to mysteriously unscramble.

I thought to myself, "Is it just me or are the words moving? I feel kinda giddy...could I be.....overworked?"

Just then, my Ozzie colleague, who is stretching beside her while photocopying documents, comes over to discuss "work" with me.

I asked her, "Is this office......shaking?"

Ozzie : "I don't know, I'm stretching so I wouldn't know...but anyway, here are the amendments to the documents.....[blah blah blah]....."

But the words went in one ear and out the other as the swaying sensation became more obvious.

I exclaimed to all, "I think there's an earthquake guys!"

Everyone in the office seemed more amused than scared. In my opinion, the mood was uncomfortably "calm".

Having been earthquake trained (after living in Tokyo for 4 years), we were taught to duck and take cover under our desk, and to immediately evacuate out of the building at the soonest moment. But then after that, we assemble in a field surrounded by tall buildings. If you asked me, I'd say, "errr....u sure we shld be standin' here?"

Anywayz, in our situation, what does one do in a swaying building 60 storeys off the ground?

And where are all the announcements from the building management to vacate the building? Will it be safe to take the lifts? We hear a gazillion "false alarms" every now and then from the broadcast speakers, but nada in such a potentially dire situation.

My first instinct was to grab my bag and leave. No one seemed to share the same self-preservation enthusiasm that I showed. Perhaps it was because I've been a victim of a life-threatening evacuation situation when my boat sank years ago and realise it was better to be safe than sorry. Or was I being paranoid and overly giasu? After all, we were taught from an early age that Singapore is immune to earthquakes so there's nothing to be afraid of.

After the tremors continued for more than 5 minutes, I rounded up a few colleagues, and we made our way down to the first floor. Unscathed, we appeared on the ground floor, though thoughts of being stuck in the lift and of cables snapping did cross our minds. In fact, I learnt from my colleague that our CEO actually came up with a theory that we would not kick the bucket if the lift kicked the ground floor! There was some physics theory to that but to me, it remained just that...a theory.

Upon reaching the lobby, we saw lots of panicky late-workin' office workers scurrying to leave their offices. I asked our security guard if they felt the earthquake. The lady said mildly, "No, we didn't, but I guess that is why all these people are vacating their buildings". Hmm....how about us folks in this building? Weren't you going to make an announcement to get us out? I learnt from my colleagues who returned to the office that an announcement was in fact later made. But hey, that was "after" the fact! We could have been burried under the rubble by then! Duh!

So, the question is : is Singapore free from earthquakes? Check out the answers from this website :

"In known history, Singapore has not experienced an earthquake.

Singapore is located in an area sandwiched by the Java trench in the west and south, and the Philippine plate and trench in the east.Thus Singapore is located in a seismically stable zone, free from earthquakes.

Most of the shallow and bigger earthquakes are in western Sumatra and Java because of the deep subduction zones to the west-east and south-north of the Java trench. Earthquakes that occur near Singapore are usually deep earthquakes and weak.

However this does not exclude us from being affected by weak tremors once or twice a year due to a strong earthquake located in western Sumatra.The tremors are weak and are felt by a few people living on high floors over certain specific areas of the Singapore.

In the interest of the public, Meteorological Services Division has set up a compact network of seismic sensors around the island to monitor the effects of these earthquakes from western Sumatra. The data are made available to engineers to help them ascertain the tremor effects on structures. These data are also made available to researchers in the universities. The information is also made available to the general public whenever a tremor incident occurs in Singapore."

But with all the geological changes caused by climate and other changes, who knows what may happen next!

Dug out some news about last Wed's earthquake....

Source: Channelnewsasia
Singapore buildings sway after strong quake hits IndonesiaPosted: 12 September 2007 1941 hrs

SINGAPORE : Singapore buildings swayed after an earthquake measuring 7.9 hit Indonesia on Wednesday evening.

The massive quake struck off the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island, prompting authorities to issue a tsunami warning, meteorologists said.

The undersea earthquake, which hit at 6:10 pm (1110 GMT), struck in the sea some 100 kilometres (60 miles) southwest of the city of Bengkulu, at a depth of roughly 15 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

The quake was strongly felt in the capital Jakarta, some 600 kilometres away, with tall buildings swaying.

An official at the Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said a tsunami warning had been issued.

India's Government Ocean Centre has also issued a tsunami alert for Andaman Islands.

Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered tsunami of December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province alone.

The archipelago nation sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. - AFP/ch/ms