Brazilian reports moment of terror in Taiwan: ‘It was the earthquake that scared me the most and left me with my body shaking’ | Pernambuco

Brazilian who has lived in Asia for 16 years tells how he felt about the earthquake

Brazilian Vanderbergh Fernandes, who lives in Taiwan, recounted the moments of terror he experienced during the earthquake that hit the country at around 8am this Wednesday (3), local time. (see video above). The strong 7.7 magnitude tremor left nine people dead and more than 800 injured.

“It was that horrible situation. […] We feel every earthquake and don’t get scared, we feel it and don’t get worried. This was the earthquake that scared me the most and left my body shaking”, said the native of Pernambuco.

Cosmetics salesman, Vanderbergh has lived in Asia for 16 years, five of them in Taiwan, and says he has experienced several other earthquakes, but none as strong as this one, which was the largest recorded in the country in the last 25 years.

“First, an SMS arrived, with an earthquake warning, and, after three seconds, it started to shake. It was a weak shaking and then it became a very strong shaking, and we couldn’t stand up,” he said.

Vanderberg lives on the 15th floor and reported that the building has security systems for earthquakes, which lock the doors to each floor and the elevators while the tremor lasts.

“The recommendation is not to run in the streets, there are videos of pieces of buildings falling into the street. […] So, if you run away, it’s more dangerous than staying there waiting for the earthquake to pass,” he said.

According to him, the strongest tremor lasted around three minutes and overturned furniture in the house, such as glasses, statues and paintings. Then, other weaker tremors happened soon after, but they diminished over time.

“We can now return to normal. The warning is that other smaller tremors may occur, until the plates settle down, but there is no chance of a major earthquake”

According to authorities, at least 26 buildings collapsed, more than half of them in the city of Hualien. Landslides were also recorded after the quake. In the capital Taipei, part of the city was left without power.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, the epicenter of the earthquake was recorded near the east coast of Taiwan. At least 10 aftershocks with a magnitude above 5.0 were felt in the hours following the earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Taiwan’s official news agency said this is the strongest earthquake recorded since 1999, 25 years ago, when a tremor killed 2,400 people and damaged 50,000 properties.