Earthquake in Chengdu

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EARTHQUAKE

Well.. Where do I start?? What a crazy experience. First - I'm ok, and yes I'm out now of Chengdu. Thanks to all who checked in on me! So as promised - I'll try and fill you in on everything that happened.

I arrived in Chengdu the night before the earthquake, and fortunately was only planning to hang around the city area and see the local sights that day. I found an internet cafe (see previous blog) but after an hour or so of fiddling around still couldn't upload any pictures - so headed back to my hotel to use their business room internet - which just happened to be the one computer with the slowest connection I have ever used. So again, I was fiddling around for about an hour trying to send pictures and not lose my temper.

And that was when the earthquake hit. In a way, I'm probably lucky that I was in the hotel foyer, and not on a bus travelling around to see the various scenic spots. It meant I knew where I was, and was able to get outside fairly easily. I've spoken with a couple of other foreigners who were out of the city - they said it was a very hard, lonely, scary time. Well, except for the British tour group on a bus about 50km away - they didn't even notice the earthquake until they saw the damage at the next town (the bus driver did later say that he thought the wheels were a bit wobbly for a few seconds, but that's probably how they always feel).

An earthquake is a bizarre feeling, and I'm not quite sure how to explain it. I think it feels a little bit like turbulence in a aircraft - but side to side. The earthquake started gradually, but quickly - I can't imagine how it must have been at the epicentre approx 100kms NW away. At first I felt only a little vibration, and I thought I was too heavy for the wobbly chair I was sitting on. Then a split second later another stronger vibration - I could hear it slightly in the walls - and I thought a bell boy must have been pushing a super heavy trolley past with dodgey wheels. But then the shaking still got stronger and became constant. I thought "are we having an earthquake?" and I glanced at the attendant sitting behind me. She gave me a puzzled look, and we both smiled awkwardly - and then as the shaking grew even stonger we both realised what was going on.

She started screaming. People outside the room started yelling too. For some reason I recalled Steeley telling me about an eathquake he once felt in Newcastle - and how you're supposed to stand in the doorway. So my initial thought was to grab my gear (which thankfully I had stowed away when not in use - gotta love that training) and stand in the doorway in the business centre. About 1/30th of a second later I thought "You idiot! You're on the bottom floor in a 17 storey building!! Standing here isn't going to do any help! Get the bloody hell outside!" Pretty funny now! Just remember if you're ever in an earthquake with me don't do what I do - ha!

It took all of about 5 seconds to outside - as I said quite fortunate that I was in the business centre. Initially I didn't think much of the earthquake. A little bit of shaking, but it didn't feel so bad. A lot of people really started panicking - buildings of people just poured out in to the middle of the traffic. I managed to get my camera out just after I made it outside the building, just as everyone started to realise that we were in an earthquake in the middle of a city of highrise buildings. Hopefully the footage loads up - my hotel building gave out a loud groan that sent a shiver down my spine, and everyone elses. I'm not sure where they were all running too - but thought i had better get going too! People were screaming and crying and carrying on - all very afraid. Again I didn't think that much of it, and thought the last thing the Chinese need to see is a huge red-headed foreigner running down the street, pushing people out of the way screaming "IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!!" (kind of like how Richo acts when he sees a dog). Nevertheless it still got the heart racing, and gave me butterflies in my stomach. All up I'm not sure how long it lasted - maybe up to 30 secs? But there is also a big difference between being on the ground, and the feeling you get a few levels up.

Once the initial tremor was over the chaos set in. Nobody knew what to. The intial tremor occurred about 2.20pm. (Interestingly it wasn't until 3.30pm that big department stores etc started conducting an roll calls etc and getting everyone into groups.) Traffic was at a standstill. People were everywhere. A few buildings would let of a wierd groan once in a while that would send everyone into a wave of people pushing down the street. Phone lines died - fortunately i managed to get a text to Nadene and the Embassy to let the know I was fine. And then we began the waiting game.

I've never actually known how long you should wait after an earthquake - maybe up to 24 hours. I sat oustide the hotel until about 6.30pm, and was able to talk to some people about the quake. Most people never remembered ever having a quake in Chengdu - and we still didn't know how big it was or anything until I got a text from Nadene. Quite a surreal experience - I didn't see or speak to another foreigner until yesterday at the airport, and even though I can speak some Chinese there was times when I really had no clue what was going on - for those that couldn't speak Chinese it would have been a very hard time.

My hotel staff were really great. They gave us food and water in the reception while we waiting for someone to give us an all clear - which I now realise wasn't going to happen for a couple of days! I thought it would be fine by 9pm!

The after shocks kept coming through too. They make you feel a little sick in the stomach as you wonder how big this one will be. At 7.15pm there was a bigger aftershock - the lights in the hotel reception were swinging, and people started running outside. Although the old Sichuanese lady next to me (who I later found out was one of the hotel managers) convinced me not to worry about it - so we stayed inside (and I didn't want to lose my seat either). Our hotel had electricity for a couple of hours, but then it went out again - I later realised that the police had advised them of timings they could have electricity on so as to share it with the other buildings - and we just sat around and waited.

We probably would have sat around and waited all night if it wasn't for a bus load of Chinese guys who must have been on a business trip arrived back at 9.00pm. It's kind of bizarre listening to Chinese people argue, becuase they point and scream and get so carried away that you are sure that any second now someone is going to pull out a machete and get medieval on the group. This was one of those times. The hotel staff had turned the electricity off because the police told them to (and you don't go against the Chinese police) but other hotels had electricity, and these guys wanted to get their bags and move on. For some reason I ended up sitting right in the middle of about 20 people full-on arguing, occasionally looking at me and then arguing more. Did I mention that I was the only foreigner at our hotel? I felt a little like that scene out of the movie Snatch where the Pikeys are deciding what to do with Tommy!

Anyway, the police came, and it was decided that the electricity would be turned back on for two hours so they could get their bags and leave. And then everyone else started leaving the hotel too - and most went to the airport, which we later discovered was closed. Another aftershock at 9.50pm. Due to the argument with the CHinese guys, the hotel were backed into agreeing that people could go to their rooms and sleep if they chose too. Of course it took me about an hour to work out what the hell was going on, but basically by 10.30pm the hotel was allowed to keep the electricity on, and you could go and sleep in you room if you wanted to. But be aware that there is no gaurantee of safety, and they told me that i'd better not sleep too heavy and make sure i run down the 10 flights of stairs quickly if anything happens. Which to me sounded like a pretty good idea at the time. Well until I got back to my room anyway.

I didn't actually feel nervous about the whole incident until I caught the elevator back up to level 10. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I couldn't be bothered walking up. It made a few moans and groans - probably no more than it made the day before - but now I was half expecting to plummet down the elevator shaft. When I got back to my hallway all the lights were blown. There was flakes of the wall which had fallen off onto the floor. In my room the cupboard doors were all open, my suitcase was half off the wooden stand, and there was a huge crack in my shower. Every 10mins or so I was sure it felt like the floor was moving, but I couldn't tell if it was or if I was imagining it. I packed my two backpacks with the essentials in case I needed to run down the fire stairs - you know the important things like Dalwhinnie and a travel Mahjong set - and then went outside and stumbled around in the dark to find the fire stairs closest to my room, which I hoped led to the ground. I get back to my room and I decide I'd better sleep in clothes with socks on, and with shoes ready to go - and then my bedroom lights went out. Shit. Is something happening? I find the phone but its dead. I use my mobile to try and call reception but can't get through. Shoes on, grab bags, out the door - but hang on..there is still some light from the far hallway.. WTF?? Thankfully just a fuse in my room, and they sent an attendant to fix it. And my phone didn't work again for the next two days (neither did my toilet come to think of it - much to the cleaning lady's dismay). So a false alarm.

So back in bed and I could swear that the room was moving. I decided to set up an elaborate earthquake detection device, more commonly known as a glass half-filled with water - which I was sure would let me know when things got hairy and it was time to leave - and off I went to sleep. I woke up at 4 am to the room shaking. I don't know how long it had been going but I sat up and tried to work out what the hell was going on. Yes, my quake-detection device was actually working and the water was moving. Oh and yes my towel on the towel rack is swinging too. Ok.. should I run.. no, I think it's slowing down. Yes.. it's stopped. Hmm wonder how long that had been happening for? (the next day the hotel staff said they had all noticed too, and it was a big one) Again, another big aftershock at 7.30am, but again not big enough to get me out of bed either. I do like bed.

So I made it through the night. At this stage I was still determined to stay in Chengdu, but this changed throughout the day. Nothing had electricty, no shops were open, no-one had phone access, I couldn't go back to my room because they were worried about aftershocks (but you let me sleep there last night?). And it wasn't until I was chatting with a guy selling softdrinks, and he asked why haven't I returned home to Australia that it dawned on me that maybe I should look into getting out of Chengdu.

This was another mission in itself. I knew could get an air ticket, but wasn't sure if the airport was open. A Chinese guy told me he went to the airport that day, but came back becuase there were no planes. I assumed he couldn't get a ticket. I managed to track down the Air China office, well I stumbled across it really, and they were still open. The only ticket available was first class - fine, I'll take it, just get me on the flight. But apparently this doesn't mean anything. When I arrived at the airport the next day (yesterday) they advised that my seat had gone! They downgraded my seat, gave me the refund and sent me on my way. The only way to descrivbe the airport was madness. People sleeping there, people arguing, people trying to buy tickets. Chinese people don't know how to line up, they just wriggle and worm their way to the front and demand to be heard. But getting my bags checked was the least of my problems. Our gate didn't know when we were boarding, and they kept changing our departure gate - this went on for 3 hours. Finally we get bused out on the tarmac and there are planes everywhere. Planes full of people ready to go, military packing relief planes - crazy. We get on board and I'm thinking, ok a 3 hour delay isn't that bad. But then I find out off the British guy next to me that his tour group did the same thing yesterday. Waiting in the airport for 5 hours, then when they got on the plane the stairs were wheeled away, the safety brief done, and then they waited. For another 7 hours. Then at the end, their flight was cancelled and they all went back to the aiport, collected bags, and went about finding a hotel. My worst nightmare - and was reinforced by the fact that they served us drinks as soon as we got on board! They never serve drinks first!

We ended up having to wait on board for 5 hours, and thankfully we were able to take off. They did give us some biscuits and water though... Apparently just too many planes backlogged - and we could see them going - but then there would be periods where we couldn't hear any planes leaving. I have a sneaky suspicion that there were periods that the military or gov't may have claimed the airport to send relief planes or whatever, and we just sat there waiting. The picture attached is when the tour group decided enough was enough - after 3 hours they called it quits and got off the plane, so they had to unpack their bags and check the planes for bombs (Apparently you don't let someone get on the plane and then get off without checking for bombs - but by this stage that would have been better than waiting.) The worst flight ever. Lucky for me I am now practiced in the art of patience (thanks to my 30hr train trip) but I nearly did reach the end of my tether.

And that is that. So happy to be in Guilin - it looks beautiful. I can't believe the severity of the earthquake, and the pictures are horrifying. I can't believe I was only 100 kms away, and I'm thankful that it wasn't that bad where I was. And I'll never think of air-turbulence in the same light again..

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Photos

Earthquake 1
Took this photo not long after the earthquake - the beginning of about 5 hours of chaos with everyone trying to get home.

earthquake 2
Crack in my shower wall...

earthquake 3
The hotel I was in was two buildings joined to together - here you can see where the buildings have seperated in the hallway. No wonder they didn't really want me to go back to my room on level 10.

Chengdu airport
Absolute mayhem. The worst flight ever. Even though I had bought a ticket the day before it didn't matter. Getting bags checked in was the easy part - we then had a 3 hour wait at the terminal, then a 5 hour wait on the plane.

Chengdu - Enough is enough
After 3 hours on the plane wondering whether we would be able to leave a tour group of 19 British people decided it was time go back to the terminal. Of course they had been through the same pain the day before, but after 7 hours sitting on the plane they were told it was cancelled. Here we all are waiting for their bags to come off.

Guilin
A snapshot of Guilin out my hotel window - glad to be out of Chengdu.