An Aberdeen man living in Taiwan has described the terrifying moment he and his wife waited for a 7.4 magnitude earthquake which hit the country to pass.
Nine people died in the earthquake – Taiwan’s biggest in nearly 25 years – with more than 1,000 people injured and another 34 still missing.
Danny Taylor, 32 – who is originally from Bridge of Don – lives in the country’s capital Taipei, which is located around 110 miles north of the epicentre of the earthquake near Hualien.
The quake cracked some walls in his apartment – which is on the sixth floor of a ten-story block – that he shares with his wife Sonya, also 32.
The couple have lived there for the past 18 months.
‘It felt like forever’
The expat who works in the offshore wind industry recalled the moment the earthquake hit to The P&J.
“We were lying in bed and I felt the bed rocking,” he explained.
“Since we’ve had minor tremors in the past, I just thought it would be one of those. But then it got really, really violent and the whole building started swaying left to right.
“I sprung out of bed, grabbed my wife and braced on the floor of the bedroom until it passed.
“I can’t tell you how long it lasted – it felt like forever – but was probably only about a minute or two.
“Things started falling off the walls and even the walls themselves started cracking in the building and in the apartment block.
“It eventually stopped, but it was pretty scary.”
‘There was a lot of damage’
The Scottish expat said there has been a “lot of damage” caused to the capital city.
There are countless smashed windows which have resulted in glass being scattered on the street.
There were also reports of smashed cars and shops being ravaged,
And the country has been hit with internet outages and power cuts.
After the earthquake, there were more than 200 aftershocks – many of which were at 6.5 magnitude or over with more expected in the coming days.
With more than 600 people still stranded, efforts to find them are ongoing.
Several damaged buildings are already being demolished in Hualien, where the city’s Uranus building leans perilously downwards.
As well as this, boulders “the size of cars” are being removed from near railway lines.
Since the 1999 earthquake struck – which claimed more than 2,400 lives and injured more than 11,300 – Mr Taylor said the country is clearly well-prepared for devastating incidents of this nature.
“The building I’m in now is quite new, so I think they’re built to certain standards,” he said.
“In terms of how quickly they bounced back, in Taipei it’s fairly quick.
“There are still some tremors, but it’s definitely calmed down.”
