Hi folks. As of this morning Hualien is still experiencing one tremor after another. This may presage a major quake. I have also heard that the ROCAF in Hualien is quietly preparing its aircraft for a major quake.
Please folks, check your quake preparations. The great Tobie Openshaw posted a list to my Facebook:
Keep your wallet with ID and money and cards in the SAME spot every night so that that will be the FIRST thing you grab.
Keep shoes in the SAME spot every night so you can grab them right away. You do NOT want to be running over broken glass in bare feet and in this cold.
Prepare a bag that you can grab if things start falling off the walls. Think what you need to spend a night or two in a shelter:
Passport/s,
warm clothes, gloves.
Spare underwear/socks.
Chemical heating pads.
Cellphone power bank and cable.
At least 4 bottles of water.
Some chocolates/ nuts for energy.
Spare set of house/car keys.
Do you have a car? Keep some emergency rations and a spare blanket in the car, it will provide you with shelter and warmth, and get you out of danger. Make sure the tank is kept full.
Have a plan. If there's a big one while you're at work, where do you go, what do you do, who do you contact? If at home, what do you grab, where do you go? When everything is rattling around your ears is NOT the time to be thinking, "Oh shit what am I supposed to take?" (Experience tells us that people take the most nonsensical things while leaving essentials.)
Boy Scouts motto apply: Be Prepared.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!
I remember living in Hualien in the early 90's, getting clusters of earthquakes like this over days and weeks. I got so blasé about them I remember waking up to one, and just letting myself get rocked back to sleep. It never really occurred to me that there would be a big, catastrophic quake, or that my HInoki Japanese house wasn't capable of taking the stress. Of course, typhoons were also a signal to go down to 七 星潭 and bob around in the waves just offshore. I feel far less indestructible these days.
ReplyDeleteI hope that the east coast continues to get these 'small' adjustments, and avoids a damaging quake.
Well you were pretty much right.
ReplyDelete