The Ground Shakes! - A way of life in Taiwan

Taiwan is a beautiful little gem of an island that can be found on the very far side of Asia; full of mountains, forests, beaches and fascinating cities as well as interesting culture, food and religions, but Taiwan has a bad side as well, the island which sits not far from the edge of the Eurasian tectonic plate and the Filipino plate is plagued with constant earthquakes through out the year, I have already lost count in the amount of earthquakes I have experienced in my eleven months here.

Just before midnight on the 6th February 2018, one of the deadliest earthquakes I have experienced struck the eastern city of Hualien, luckily I am on the western side of the island but it was still violent enough to shake my room, causing many of my house hold items to vibrate and my building to sway. To me it was just another earthquake, little did I know that directily east of me on the other side of the island, three buildings had slightly collapsed which later caused the death of seventeen people, it was one of the worst earthquakes to have hit Taiwan in a long time.

After being in Taiwan for so long, earthquakes are just a way of life here, you get used to them, in other countries when an earthquake strikes there are rules for safety, for example you could hide under your table or stand next to the door, but in Taiwan people carry on with their lives, if you were chilling out watching a movie, you would just carry on doing so, I have adapted to the Taiwanese way of thinking when it comes to earthquakes which who knows could be a mistake in the future, but for now, I am doing just fine.

In late February, I was travelling to the city of Hualien, on the train journey down the coast I would look out of the train window as the sun would set into a blanket of darkness over the ocean, the thoughts in my head were of the people who had recently lost their lives in the city and how it was the most earthquake stricken region in the country, I kept thinking about what if another one was to strike whilst I am in Hualien as well as the more extreme, the chances of a tsunami, it is easy to say that so many thoughts were flashing through my head it was a little uncomforting but I was still looking forward to seeing a new city on this little island I call home.

On my first night in Hualien, I had already seen one of the buildings that had collapsed on that dreadful evening, it was an apartment building that was leaning forward, being supported by heavy crain's, the building looked as if it was going to roll flat onto it's face, I imagined the building as if it was a person thinking 'aww you poor thing', I don't know why but it felt more comforting to think like that, I suppose everyone is different when it comes to situations like these.

It was hard to believe that I was actually standing close to the building that hit news headlines around the world, it really brought it home seeing through the windows of people apartments with all their furniture pushed up against the windows, even clothes were still drying on the line as if it was just a normal day, it felt like I had a ball stuck in my throat, I couldn't even begin to imagine how scary it must of been for the people who were stuck inside, waking up from their sleep with their bed and all their furniture sliding towards you, trying to escape the building thinking at any moment it could totally collapse killing everyone inside, walking around the building you could kinda tell who were the unlucky people who may have been killed with the weight of the building pressed down on them, it looked as if some of the apartments in the front had been totally crushed along with the rubble.

The sight of the collapsed apartment building was truly a sight that was going to be engraved into my memory for the rest of my life, I had seen nothing like it before and it only goes to show you how dangerous mother nature can be, what felt like a normal earthquake to me on the other side of the island was one of the worst for the people here, but of course I plan to be living in Taiwan for a while, I am sure there will be many more to come, until then I guess the people of Taiwan, including myself will just carry on living our lives, my motto is in life is that you shouldn't let things stop you doing stuff you love, no matter if it is human terror or natural disasters, if you let these situations get in the way, you will be constantly be moving around the world to find a safe place to live, it's experiences likes these that make travelling what it is, getting experience in situations you may not have at home.

Two videos are below of the earthquake.