'I felt the building shaking, heard things falling': Singapore family holidaying in Taiwan hides under hotel room table four times during quake

Singaporean AL Chew had just finished breakfast and was walking back to his hotel room in Taipei at 8am when he felt the tremors.

"I felt the building shaking and heard things falling in the rooms on the floor," the 46-year-old IT manager told AsiaOne, adding that he realised it was tremors from an earthquake.

His first thought was to get his 45-year-old wife and five-year-old foster son, who were in the suite at Grand Hyatt Taipei, to safety.

As he rushed into the room, he grabbed his son and shouted to his wife to get under the large desk in front of them. 

"I was worried because the shaking was more [extreme] than I expected and my family's safety was at risk," he said.

For one minute, the family huddled under the desk. The boy, who had no clue what was happening, started bawling.

The family, who was three days into their week-long holiday, was experiencing Taiwan's biggest earthquake in 25 years. 

The 7.4-magnitude quake struck near the city of Hualien, which is 157km away from Taipei, at around 8am on Wednesday (April 3), killing seven and injuring hundreds. 

Chew said they had to duck under the table another three times when there were aftershocks.

To calm their boy down, the couple told him they were playing a game that required hiding under the table.

"The next few times, he was smiling through it," Chew added.

Worried as they were on high floor

As they waited for the aftershocks to pass, Chew said that being on the 16th floor made him a little anxious as he feared that they would not be able run out of the building easily if it started collapsing.

"I just focused [on the fact] that I was already in the best possible position I could be in, so I just have to ride it out. I have modes of communication, food, water and something to block anything [that falls] from the top," he added.

The family had planned to leave for Kaohsiung at 9.30am — they had hired a private driver to take them to the city — but the hotel lifts were not in operation.

Chew grew increasingly concerned when he heard about how severe the earthquake was from his cousin who works in Taiwan.

The family managed to leave the hotel at around 10.15am after one of the lifts started operating again.

The drive from Taipei to Kaohsiung typically takes 4.5 hours, passing through Taoyuan, Taichung and Tainan.

But traffic was slow due to the suspension of service on the high-speed rail as well as delays and cancellations facing other modes of public transport.

He had wanted to get train tickets to Kaohsiung on Monday but they were sold out — which he now considers a "blessing in disguise".

Chew said that signboards on the road showed average vehicle speeds to be about 40kmh, and traffic was bumper to bumper.

The family eventually reached their destination at close to 5pm, around 6.5 hours after they left Taipei. 

And they will not be letting the quake rattle their travel plans.

"Things like these are out of our control. All we can do is look out for ourselves and those around us," Chew said.

"While I feel blessed to be safe, my thoughts are with the locals here who are badly affected by the quake."

ALSO READ: Tsunami due to Taiwan quake unlikely to affect Singapore, no reports of tremors here: NEA

bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com