Herd instinct

[Tuesday, 20 May]

At 11pm last night, minibeanie had just gotten an early night-time feed and I'd emerged from my shower. Time to unwind, watch some tv and read my mails. It was not to be however. At 11:22pm, I got a call from the Singapore consulate that there have been news that a 6-7 Richter aftershock is likely to impact Chengdu and they advised everyone to leave.*

Can they predict earthquakes, I'd wondered? Nonetheless, it was safer to err on the side of caution, we thought. So then, the all too familiar evacuation process kicked in - frantic gathering of minibeanie's milk, baby food, spoon, bottle, diapers, change of clothes etc. We picked up the sleeping baby who was probably very puzzled what the fuss was all about, and made our way out of our apartment. It was probably midnight but all the locals were already out and pitching tents in the open. People were still dressed in their pyjamas with drowsy children hoisted over their shoulders and blankets draped around them.

Telecommunication lines were not working again. We trudged along hoping to get a taxi but it was a futile attempt. It was deja vu all over again where exactly a week ago, some Finnish friends & I were walking on the same road with bags of stuff hoping to get a ride to safety. There was an air of panic in the humid night even as some locals were pulling out tables for an all-night game of mahjong. Every car on the road was either heading for its refuge or being parked by the road side with its inhabitants camping in it. However, despite the almost carnival feeling from some quarters, I wasn't feeling the least bit jolly. Eventually, we got to Shangri-La, 400m from where we stayed, and got a taxi.

It was past 1am when we reached a friend's home. Again, we slept on the ground floor just in case we'd to make a dash. I almost wished the aftershock would come to get it over and done with.

The night passed without any incident. Apparently, at 2am when I was still awake, there was a 5.1 aftershock but it passed without me noticing it.

* Subsequently, it emerged that Chengdu was not in any danger of aftershocks after all not unless one's staying in a structurally unsound building (duh?). The power of media on a jittery population?