Vietnamese in Taiwan: “I thought I was buried in a pile of cement”

While preparing materials with his Vietnamese compatriots to continue completing the apartment on the 21st floor of a building in Taipei, Taiwan, Mr. Tran Son Nam (31 years old) suddenly felt his body wobble as if someone had pushed him. strong.

The scaffolding outside the building swayed as if in a big storm and continuously emitted shrill creaking sounds.

Mr. Nam quickly grabbed the nearby wall. , a fellow countryman working together held on tightly to a stack of cement bags as high as his body to stand steady.

The strong shaking lasted about 1 minute. I know for sure it was an earthquake. Because I’m on the high floor of an unfinished construction project, I’m quite shaken and scared,” Mr. Nam said.

Sharing with Dan Tri reporter Mr. Son Nam Still in shock when talking about the earthquake at 7:58 a.m. (Taiwan time) on the morning of April 3, at least 26 buildings on the island collapsed. Of these 26 buildings, 15 were in Hualien city near the center earthquake.

Mr. Son Nam said he has worked in Taiwan for 10 years and experienced many earthquakes, but this was the strongest and caused the most severe consequences .

When viewing news in the media and videos shared by many friends, I can see the terrible damage of this earthquake.

Some people had accidents on the road while driving, many houses collapsed, many people Trapped in houses filled with smoke and dust. I was shocked to realize that I had just experienced a disaster,” the 31-year-old man said.

From morning until now, Ms. Thai An (in Taipei) has been worried and did not dare to go anywhere because of the earthquake and Aftershocks continued to occur. 

“The place where I live is temporarily safe, but in Taipei, a house also collapsed,” said Ms. Thai An. 

Works in a factory Steel company in Yilan adjacent to Hualien city – a place heavily affected by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake this morning – Mr. Nguyen Duy Quan said he still feels stunned.

“From morning until now, in addition to the first earthquake, there have been 7-8 more aftershocks. I live near Hualien so the feeling is quite clear” Mr. Quan said about the feeling of working and feeling nervous every time he saw the factory shaking strongly.

Also according to Anh Quan His phone kept receiving earthquake warnings. The content of the message stated the location of the earthquake and advised everyone to move to a safe place.

Mr. Quan worked while updating the news to see if his friends and relatives were okay. affected or trapped?

Ms. Thanh Hong (living in Taichung where it borders Hualien) also commented that this was the biggest earthquake she had ever encountered since she came to Taiwan. labor quota.

“I couldn’t stand and had to sit down. In my natural reflex, I just held my head and looked up at the ceiling. I saw the chandelier shaking strongly and furniture falling, I thought it was only 5-10 seconds but it lasted up to 1 minute.

At that time My mind flashed images of houses collapsing due to the earthquake because I was afraid I would be buried in a pile of cement,” Ms. Hong said.

Ms. Hong then felt nauseous and had low blood pressure. because of the impact of the earthquake.

Ms. Dang Thi Chien (from Nghe An, currently living in Taichung, Taiwan) said she still had a headache after the strong earthquake this morning She was on the 15th floor of a hospital. Because she worked to take care of patients, she was always on hand.

“This morning I was going to the bathroom and I felt my body shaking so I quickly grabbed it. The wall walked closer to the patient’s bed and then kept clinging to the patient’s bed, waiting for the wobbly feeling to pass.

At that time, the patient was lying on the bed, even though he could not speak, but he was visibly frightened because he knew What’s going on?” Ms. Chien recounted.

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