Brazilians report despair after earthquake in Taiwan

Brazilians living in Taiwan experienced moments of terror in the early hours of Wednesday (03/4) because of the earthquake that left at least nine dead and more than 800 injured.

The earthquake with a magnitude greater than 7 degrees on the Richter scale also caused damage to several buildings and led to the issuing of a tsunami warning on the east coast of Asia, which was suspended hours later.

James Chuang is Brazilian and the son of Taiwanese parents. For twelve years, he has lived in Taipei, the island’s capital. Chuang went viral on social media when he recorded a video of the beginning of the tremor. Frightened, he shows pictures and lamps from the house swinging. “Everything is shaking! Damn! I have to leave the house,” he says in the record.

To the newspaper Newspaper, James said that the tremor was sudden and started with great force. He was eating his breakfast when he realized something was wrong. “I’ve already caught several [terremotos]but this was the strongest”, he declared.

“As we are already instructed, the first thing was to open the doors, because if the building has any structural damage, you can’t do it anymore. Then I went to see if the gas or water pipes had burst. The tap fell and remained open. Things started to fall, decorations, collection cans”, he pointed out. The Brazilian says that, even with the building’s alert, he didn’t run to the elevator, for fear of getting stuck. “The condominium where I live is newer, it’s already the laws that require buildings to support more than eight points on the Richter scale. I stayed inside until it stopped shaking and then went down,” he explained.

According to Taiwanese media, today’s tremors were the strongest in the area in the last 25 years. The tremor was also felt in cities on the Chinese coast, including Shanghai. There was also an impact on other countries such as Japan and the Philippines, which even issued tsunami warnings.

‘I ran desperately’

Brazilian Helena Wang also experienced moments of tension with the earthquake. A Newspaper she said she was tidying up her apartment when she felt a tremor. Wang, who lives on the second floor of a four-story building in Hualien, eastern Taiwan, decided to leave home. The city was one of the hardest hit by the tremors. “I ran desperately, because I had never seen it so strong. Things started to fall here at home, the windows started to break. I left so desperate that I didn’t even take flip-flops. Barefoot, almost rolling down the stairs, because she moved a lot, back and forth, on the steps,” she reported.

The 38-year-old woman had just returned home after dropping off her 11-year-old daughter at school in the city center. Helena said she had never seen anything like it in the three years she has lived in Taiwan. Due to the earthquake, she did not go to work and is sheltering in a hotel. Classes were suspended and her daughter was taken to her. “After the first earthquake, there was a pause, then there was another, there are still several,” she said.

Diplomat Miguel Magalhães also told the newspaper how he felt during the tremors. “It was terrifying. In my 40 years of diplomacy, I have never seen an earthquake like this. We live on the 14th floor, it shakes a lot more”, he pointed out, citing that the tremor destroyed a bookshelf in his apartment. According to Magalhães, the Brazilian community in Taiwan has already been contacted and there are no reports of deaths or injuries.

‘Body shaking’

To the portal G1, Brazilian Vanderbergh Fernandes says that the tremor was the most terrifying he had ever felt, even shaking his body. He has lived in Asia for 16 years, 5 of them in Taiwan. “Every earthquake, we feel it and don’t get scared, we feel it and don’t get worried. That was the earthquake that scared me the most and left my body shaking,” he said.

Fernandes reported that he received an earthquake alert via SMS and, seconds later, the earth began to shake. “It was a weak swing and then it became a very strong swing, and we couldn’t stand up,” he recalled. He lives on the 15th floor of a building and didn’t leave the building.

“The recommendation is not to run in the streets, there are videos of pieces of buildings falling into the street. So, if you run out, it is more dangerous than staying in place waiting for the earthquake to pass”, he explained. Vanderbergh said the quake left furniture, glasses, statues and pictures overturned in his home. “”We can now return to normal. The warning is that other smaller tremors may occur, until the plates settle down, but that there is no chance of having a major earthquake”, she declared.