Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia was hit with two earthquakes yesterday at around 11+ am and 1+ pm. And guess what? We, in Singapore, actually felt the tremors! Below is a recollection (my own) of what happened yesterday:

11am: As usual, 06S03 (my class) headed off for our Physics Tutorial in our home room. Our teacher Mr Lee WT was going through the D.C. Circuits Tutorial. A rather boring lesson as we went through a moderately easy question in 35 minutes.

11.45am: We finished the last question of the tutorial, and as usual, after a topic we will have a short quiz. Today wasnt an exception. So Mr Lee distributed the paper, and we started working on it. The first question was quite easy and in no time we are on the second question.

11.50am: The second question was a rather tough question. As we are scratching our heads trying to figure out the answer, all of the sudden I felt the table (and myself) moving from oscillating from left to right. I thought I was feeling dizzy (because of lack of sleep =P) (apparently a lot of people thought they were fainting too). 3 seconds later, somebody (I forgot who) voiced out:

"I think the building is shaking."

11.51am: Everybody agreed and in excitement, everybody started discussing about what they felt and their initial reaction. Amidst the chaos, Mr Lee shouted:

"OK, everybody gather your belongings if you want to, go out of the classroom now, don't panic, go to an open area, dont have to do the quiz anymore..."

11.52 am: We moved out of the classroom, still talking excitedly about the incident (which has stopped by now of course) and saw another class form the 4th floor moving out as well (my class was at the 3rd floor). We moved to the ground floor and since nothing else happened, we sat down at the study benches and actually continued doing the quiz.

11.53am: Mr Lee WT appeared again and asked us to go to the soccer field. We gathered our stuff again and headed towards the field. On our way there, we saw our fellow Saints and the staff heading towards there too.

"Oh, so everybody else felt it too?"

Yes, apparently everybody did. We all evacuated to the open soccer field (and the weather was quite hot too) and our principal Mrs Lim was quick to inform us that we just experienced a level 3 tremor and under such situation we should not remain indoors. Civics tutors were seen taking attendance of the class and everybody was trying to hide from the sun (we were actually assembling near the gallery which was shaded, which we are not supposed to be there). Around 20 minutes later, we are sent back to our classes (much to our disappointment because it was GP period for our class already) because no further tremors were experienced and no further reports wer obtained.

12.25pm: My GP tutor Ms Wee, while talking on a handphone, walked in. In a moment, we are informed of that an earthquake had hit Sumatra at 11.49am. The epicentre was 430km away from Singapore. At the epicentre, the earthquake was 6.6 on the richter scale.

1pm: Our class went up to the Chemistry Labs located at the 4th floor for our Chemistry SPA (which is practical exams). 5 minutes later, while we are wondering why our Chemistry tutor Ms Sunarfa was so late, she came up and told us we have to reschedule our SPA since a few classes who had been doing the exam had to restart their exam 40 minutes into their exam due to the tremors. In the end, it was decided that we will do the exam at 2pm. We are told to meet at 1.50pm instead.

1.10pm: Having no other classes, we headed to the library to study for the exam.

1.49pm: Having noticed that the time is approaching, we stood up and prepared to leave for the Chemistry Labs again

1.50pm: As I stood up, I suddenly felt that my body was unstable and I was shaking. Yes, the tremors were back. A second wave of tremors had hit us. This time it was about 10 seconds.

In 7 minutes (as reported by the news) we had assembled in the field. On my way there I actually saw a teacher holding a plate of chicken rice tring to finish it before heding off to the field...(well would u rather EAT or DIE??) This time nobody took chances and assembled in the shade. Civics tutors were once again taking attendance. Our SPA had to be postponed again. We stood there in the heat talking to each other about the incident, how earthquakes happen and how are we able to fell the tremors, and so on, while the principal announced that certain people will be coming over to check the building structure and MOE had been informed. Channel News Asia reporter (who came shortly after the first tremor) were seen filming us and interviewing the students.

By 2.20pm, the principal announced that we were given the rest of the day off and everybody is supposed to go home, not hanging around in school. As for me, well, I head off to NUS for my lecture test.

Quotes:
Mr Lee WT: I think this is quite cool...(What???)
Ms Suzie Yanti (while her class is doing a GP presentation): Is it me or is the world shaking?
Ms Sunarfa: I thought I was fainting because my heels were swinging from left to right
Melissa (a certain student who had her birthday): I rock, so the school rock with me..(so sadistic...)
Mrs Lim the principal: I think you all should look more solemn as you all walk past the camera. After all, this is a serious matter and u all should not be joking about it.

For more information refer to www.channelnewsasia.com.

On a more serious tone, I think we should all pray for the well being of the Indonesians who had experienced such a disaster. Like my principal said, if we in Singapore could feel the tremors and some actually felt scared, what about those who are very near the epicentre at that time? Lives have been lost. Properties are lost. Injuries. We should all be glad that we are in a safe region that is free from natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcano eruptions and so on.