Sumatra Quake Experiences from the BBC

Only later when I realised the entire neighbourhood was affected by the tremors did I know an earthquake had struck.

Sunny, Singapore

I was at the epicentre. It was horrible. People were dying. I was almost hit by a falling pole.
John Lau, Indonesia

I lived in a 20 storey apartment and I had just retired to bed and was about to fall asleep when I was jolted by the tremor. My initial reaction was that my bed was falling apart. However, as I saw the pictures on my wall rattled as well, I realised something was amiss. Before long, I could hear screams coming from my neighbours and people scattered about. I feared it could be another Hotel New World type of disaster. So I hurriedly dressed up and rushed downstairs, after locking my iron gate. Only later when I realised the entire neighbourhood was affected by the tremors did I know an earthquake had struck.
Sunny, Singapore

My sister lives on the seventeenth floor of an apartment block in Singapore. She phoned us in the early hours in a terrible state to tell us about the earthquake. I worry for my sister but my heart goes out to all the people of Sumatra.
Miles Mclean, UK.

Following the initial tremor, the jungle came alive with the whooping calls of the Sumatran Gibbon, also awakened by the quake.

Gavin Lee, Indonesia

I work on a gold mine approximately 70km east of the city of Bengkulu, on the eastern side of the Barisan Mountain Range. I awoke moments before the quake and it was by far and away the worst I have ever experienced.
Without trying to sound too patronising, the simple style of housing, i.e. wooden huts that the majority of the population lives in outside of the city would have saved many lives.
The flexibility of these structures would allow the foundations to bend and move with the ground, whereas the concrete structures of the city, being more rigid can not withstand such movement. Following the initial tremor, the jungle came alive with the whooping calls of the Sumatran Gibbon, also awakened by the quake.
Gavin Lee, Indonesia

I live in Palembang Indonesia right between Benkulu and Singapore. Unusually I was able to sleep through the earthquake but my teacher felt it and woke up. She said that it felt like the floor was floating on water. Her bed was rolling around on the floor and the pot plants were dancing on the concrete. The chickens across the road were going berserk.
Alastair Sim, Indonesia

I was asleep, 20 storeys up in a major hotel in the Singapore city centre. I was woken by the quake as the building rocked from side to side. Clearly the shake was amplified by the height of the building. I waited for the tremors to subside and then went back to bed.
I am from Reading in the UK and found the experience strange, but not particularly scary. Obviously I was lucky not to be closer to the epicentre.
Sam Pemberton, Singapore

The lift made screeching metal-against-metal noises every so often on the way down as it scraped the sides of the shaky lift shaft

Brad Taylor, Indonesia

I was asleep on the couch in my 30th floor apartment in Jakarta when a friend woke me up, anxiously shouting "goyang!, goyang!" (Indonesian for "shaky"). He then ran down the 30 flights of stairs and I hastily grabbed my keys and noticed the front door swaying open and closed on its own. I quickly locked up and, knowing that I shouldn't have, called the lift.
It came quickly. Obviously no-one else was using it. The lift made screeching metal-against-metal noises every so often on the way down as it scraped the sides of the shaky lift shaft. By this stage I was quite disconnected from any panic. If she came down, she came down.
Soon after I reached the ground floor, people started pouring out of the building. It was late at night and many were in their night clothes. It took some time before we were convinced that it was safe enough to return to our houses in the sky.
Brad Taylor, Indonesia

Felt mild tremors in South Jakarta while lying in bed around 11.30pm. Creaking sound in roof rafters. Whole experience came in pulses for several minutes.
Mark Chamberlain, Indonesia

The first tremor was the strongest and we could not really stand properly

Florence, Singapore

Last night, I was sitting in front of the computer doing some work when suddenly, the room started rocking. I live in a condominium with only a beach separating us from the sea. The fish tank water spilt out ... everyone panicked. We had not choice but to take the lift down 22 storeys because we had babies with us.
The lift was too shaking with the building as we descended. The first tremor was the strongest and we could not really stand properly. We live in the tallest floor and are the worst affected. Downstairs, people dressed in their pyjamas were out on the streets, helpless and full of anxiety.
This type of phenomenon happens to Singapore once in a blue moon, and it came so unexpectedly, worst still, it was already past 12.30 in the morning. We stayed downstairs for about 30 minutes, not knowing what to do. The street was filled with people walking up and down, using their mobile phones to contact whoever there was a need to contact.
After a calm 30 minutes, when everything seemed to return to normal did we return to our homes. From upstairs, I looked down onto the streets, there was a police car patrolling the area. This morning, it was the big issue in class. Seems like Singapore's not that safe after all.
Florence, Singapore

We live in South Jakarta, at approx. 2330 on 4/6/00 I was surprised to hear splashing in the swimming pool behind our house. There were waves between 1 and 2 feet high in the pool, but no sense of movement in the house.
Tony Milne, Indonesia

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