AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE

This is an old article I wrote back in 2009 and it got published in the company's newsletter that year. I found this article again by accident just now when I was doing some file clean-up in my laptop. And it brought back memories of my time in Scope International. I just thought I'd share this with you... 

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MY 1st EARTH QUAKE EXPERIENCE

I remember it was late Wednesday evening on 30^th September 2009. I am a Service Manager with Scope International and my office is located in LYL Tower in Petaling Jaya, just next to the Federal Highway.

I have just finished my shift that day. And as always, I decided to stay back a while to complete some pending items. I have to say that the day have not been kind on any of us, with calls pending more than we could cope. SLA dropped very quickly. Everyone was busy. Everyone was intense! And once in a while, I could hear the Duty Manager shouting, “remove wrap-up!!!”. A routine environment that I have gotten used to over the past couple of weeks due to our busy season.

I continued working on my pending items. 

Although I realize that I only have two hands, but I tried to complete a few items at once hoping to finish my work faster. Suddenly (I am not sure what time was it, but for a split second), I could swear that the room actually came to a complete silence. I didn't bother about it at first and continued with my work, when something unthinkable happened… 

My whole body started to sway uncontrollably! 

I was swaying in a soft circular motion. I quickly grabbed the side my desk and my immediate reaction was:

"Oh god!! This is it… I am having a heart attack!!"

And my thoughts quickly raced to those many years of smoking and it is finally taking its toll. My heart is now failing me. So, I started to pray.

"Ya Allah, please have mercy on my soul"

I put my right palm on my chest to check my heart beat, and to my relief, it was beating normally. Eh, wait a minute, NORMAL?? How could that be?

"Hmm.. if my heart is fine, then why is my body swaying uncontrollably?" I asked to myself.

Whatever it is, I told myself that I am not taking any chances. While I continue to think of possible reasons for my body to sway, I did a quick scan of the area around me to ensure there are no sharp objects as I prepare for a ‘safe’ fall (just in case). 

I closed my eyes and put my head back to rest. I begin to stretch both my arms forward and slowly moving it upwards while taking in a deep breath. I remember this tips from my rugby coach back in college, Mr Brown, who said that this would help better blood circulation. I wanted to repeat this for several more times, when I realized something else was happening around me.

I opened my eyes and I could see a few people standing up looking at each other. They looked more puzzled than panic. I could also see some of them rushing towards the door as if they were late for a very important meeting. What is goin on??

An announcement from my boss, Jason, confirmed that I was not the only one who felt ‘dizzy’.

"Everybody please remain calm!!" he announced.

Jason looked out the window and try to figure out what was going on. I am not sure what he saw from the window, but he ordered a full evacuation immediately after. 

Panic started to built!

Some, including me, responded immediately and rushed towards the door. But I noticed that many were still unaware of the danger. I could see them taking their time packing their things before evacuating. Perhaps it was almost at the end of their shift. So, they might be thinking that it would good for the take their things with them and they can just go home after that. 

I quickly announced: "Leave your things behind and safe your life first!!"

I continued to rush towards the door. But the crowd soon got stuck in a bottleneck at the door. For some reason, the crowd was moving very slowly. Within the crowd, I could hear people asking one another what is happening and what to do. It was not until another manager came and opened the door wide, that the crowd started to flow again.

"You don’t have to tag out, guys. JUST GO!!" he announced.

Thanks to that manager, the bottleneck soon eases down and I was on my way again towards the staircase. I later found out that people were still followed the ‘NO TAILGATING’ rule. This is actually a good practice - on normal circumstances that is. But in an emergency situation such as this, it causes bottleneck because only one person can exit at one time.

While on my way to the staircase, I came to another surprise. Some people are actually waiting for the lift!! I am aware of the real danger, so I made another announcement

"This is not a drill, people. Do not use the lift. Proceed to the staircase now!" I announced.

And I proceeded, once again, towards the staircase. When I finally got down, there were about a thousand people gathered just outside the building. Some were really shaken by the incident, some were engaged in a serious discussion, but there were also some laughing. I could not hear what they were talking about, but I am pretty sure that they were all talking about the quake. I quickly joined my friends, who were gathered just by the side of the guard house. Everybody was re-counting their experience.

Our former boss, Mr Goh, just could not stop laughing at himself. He told us that he was actually talking on the phone when he felt the quake. So, he quickly ended the call, put the phone down and rushed out. Only when he reached down that he realized that he was actually on a mobilephone!

"Mobile phones are meant to be mobile, right! So, why.. oh why did I left my mobilephone on the table. Aiyo.. I could have just brought it down with me lah" he told us and everyone laughed.

My Head of Department, Jason, also had a funny experience to tell us. He was having a discussion with thee Operation Manager, Alvin, when he started to feel dizzy. He immediately blamed the black coffee he just had that evening.

"Oh god! I shouldn't have taken that black coffee just now..........."

"Now my head is spinning!!" said Jason.

"Err.. Jason, I didn't have any coffee today, but why is my head spinning too?" Alvin responded.

They looked at each other and realized that they were not the only ones. It is not their heads that was spinning, but an actual earthquake was occurring. 

Another story was from a Service Banker, Nadhia, who told us that she got scolded by a friend during the quake.

"Stop shaking my cubicle, Nadhia!!" a friend scolded Nadhia.

The friend thought that Nadhia was playing around with her chair and making the cubicle shake.

"It wasn't me!!" she defended herself. 

“My cubicle is also shaking laa!!” and they looked at each other in confusion.

Everyone was unsure what was going on and what to do. Like me, this was the first earth quake experience for most of us. The building management finally declared the building to be safe at around 7:30pm and business was back as usual within hours of that experience. Nonetheless, it was an unforgettable experience, proving that we are really unprepared for the unexpected.

That night, the quake was all over the news. It originated from Padang, a district in Indonesia and was measured to be 7.9 at Richter scale. It was so strong that it that took the live of thousands, and wounded many more. It destroyed many buildings and houses in Padang and causes tsunami alerts to be triggered around the region. The alerts were later lifted within hours. 

I was made humbled by the reports. Although the alerts were lifted and business were back as usual for all of us here, but the lives of many in Padang remains shattered.

What I felt was just a soft sway and that was enough to cause panic in my office and the surrounding area. I could only imagine what it could have felt like for the people of Padang. They have just suffered a great lost. They lost their children, their parents, their brothers, their sisters, their uncles, their aunties. They lost their friends, their homes, their playground, their schools. 

But worse of all, they have just lost their hope and their future!! May Allah help them rebuild their lives.