At one millisecond, you are thinking what must have happened! Is it war since there were fighters hovering at night or faulty construction! but there is no time to dwell on it as I can barely stand straight. I look at my son still in the violently shaking bed! I ask him to get up immediately and declare that we have to get out of the hotel room. Glad that I have his hand, but tensed as we cant make it to the room door, a brain wave strikes to get under the table. As we are safe under the table with pacing hearts, I tell him ‘this is an earthquake’.

There are few things you wish have never happened and you never have to talk about it, this is one of those. But I am still sharing here as a witness to the event and spreading the word for those who would want to read.

As I am typing this, my heart is still pounding on what might have been and on what we have escaped!

The Taroko National park trails that we had been to, lie in shambles now. While we had marvelled on the engineering of the bridges and tunnels from the era of world war II, little had we guessed the reason for so many revamps!

Earthquakes are common in this part of the world, commonly known as the ring of fire, but earthquake of 7.2 magnitude has broken a record of 25 years.

We had to stay in Hualien for the night as the rails and roads were disrupted. The only option to go to Taipei was to go southwards by road and then take a fast train to the north. Thinking that the worst was over, we stayed back for the night. And what a night it was. On the 5th floor now, we experienced around 120 earthquakes ranging from 4 – 5.5 magnitude – probably done with our quota of lifetime.

Without a wink of sleep though, the next day was a new day. Life didn’t stop, we made new friends in the common adversity and said our final good bye.

God is great they say but I wish god was great to all the families lost in the debris.

🙏🏻