Earthquake excitement

OK...so the earthquake was near Padang, in Sumatera, Indonesia. What we felt in Singapore was a slight tremor that lasted about 10 seconds. Was on the phone today and I felt as if my head was spinning. Since I'm recovering from a recent bout of cold and still felt like crap, plus the fact I hadn't eaten a single thing by then (close to 12pm), I thought I was having a dizzy spell. So I closed my eyes for a while and then continued my phone conversation. Then the guy on the phone with whom I was talking to for the first time said he has to evacuate because of earthquake. I still had no idea so I asked him which city he was in and he said Singapore.

Ahh....then it slowly dawned on me as other people around me started to chatter excitedly. Over here, the workaholic Singaporeans will find it hard to tear themselves away from their desk. So, there were two groups of office workers, those who decided to go and have lunch like me (working in a 45-floor building that wasn't designed for earthquakes was an added incentive to leave the building), and those who will probably still have the phone next to their ear when they are pulled from the rubble.

Anyways...finished lunch and went back to work. At about 2pm, I felt the tremor this time as I started two shake side to side and the leaves from the potted plant in front of me were just shaking on their own. The speakers piped up and said do not panic while they are investigating. By the way, the emergency speakers were silent throughout the first tremor. So much for the testing they do every month with one of them annoying "This is a test" message. When the real emergency occurs...

Photo: AFP

The Age reported the earthquake and decided to put this caption for the photo above, "Office workers evacuate a building in Singapore after tremors were felt from an earthquake on Indonesia's nearby Sumatra island". Yeah right, they're evacuating alright. Notice the two-way traffic on the escalators? By the way, this photo is from Suntec Tower Five, which is the lowest tower with only 18-floors.

Anyways...turned out to be one of those days. I decided to leave at 6pm instead of the usual 8pm and guess what? Big huge deluge. Decided to go to the gym in the end. Now I feel like an old man who can't get up from my chair after posting this blog (groan) I suppose it's a good thing I went to the gym but the after effects never seem to improve...

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