Originally, my friend and I had planned to celebrate the long 4-day weekend in Hualien and Yilan, two northeast coast counties that we had never visited before. However, our plans were quickly changed as a result of the earthquake that struck Hualien and the East Coast this past Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, as many of us were arriving at school in preparation for Children’s Day ceremonies, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit the East coast just off of Hualien and could be felt to varying degrees throughout the island. As Kaohsiung is on the opposite side of the island, what we felt was minor, and some of us did not even realize it was an earthquake until after receiving the public announcement and tsunami warning on our phones. However, on the East Coast, the earthquake and resulting landslides and aftershocks severely damaged roadways and buildings, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 1100 others. This was Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in nearly 25 years, with the one in 1999 being the reason for Taiwan’s national earthquake drill. However, this time, as students got under their desks and pulled their books over their heads, it was not a drill and you could see this on their teachers’ faces. Later during my school’s assembly in the gymnasium, a small aftershock paused Children’s Day celebrations for several minutes, as students were told to stay sitting and cover their heads as it passed. Although the assembly and long recess to celebrate Children’s Day went on as planned, it was an important reminder of why we have school traditions such as safety drills and why these should be taken seriously.
