‘It was like a scene from the movies’: Singaporean Yvonne Lim shares Taiwan earthquake experience

SINGAPORE: Singaporean Yvonne Lim was heading for a nap after sending her children off to school, when an earthquake struck Taiwan – the island’s strongest in 25 years.

Everything started shaking and the intensity got worse as the seconds dragged on. That is when she realised it was serious, said Ms Lim, a Mediacorp artiste who has been living with her family in Taipei for the past nine years.

“I ran downstairs to my living room. I forgot my handphone. I just forgot everything. It was so shaky and you could even barely walk in (a) straight line. It was like a scene from the movies that we watch,” she told CNA’s Singapore Tonight on Wednesday (Apr 3). 

“And you couldn’t think properly. It was very, very scary. The tremors were very, very bad.”

While it lasted just a few minutes, that was not how it felt, she said.

It might be very short …  three or four minutes. But (it actually feels) very long when there’s an earthquake. You were like really holding onto your last breath, hoping that it would stop,” she said.

Ms Lim grabbed her phone so she could find out how her children and husband were doing, and “left some last words” on her Instagram account, fearing the worst.

The experience was so traumatising that she thought it might spell the end of her time living in Taipei, she said.

Ms Lim said she lives in a new anti-earthquake building and that while the building remained strong following the tremors, and the residents were safe, there could be some damage at home.

“Water was splashing out from the stove … And I have things falling down. Drawers were coming in and out, and the doors were also swaying. It was scary in the sense that you’re all alone and everything is just crashing down on you. But thankfully, we did not have any major damage,” she said.