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There were many people who died in their bed at 1:47am. If you are not living in Taiwan, you cannot understand what happened at that time! I will not forget this earthquake in my whole life with my family.
Kevin Chen, Taiwan

My Sister in-law works at chung hwa picture tube 1127 hoping rd.Padeh city Taoyuan Taiwan Her name is Carmela Cabasog. Is there a number, so i can contact to find out if she's OK. can you e-mail me: dumlao@jps.net
Rino, MILPITAS,CA.U.S.A.

I have spoken directly with teachers from the American International Language Academy (A-1) in Hsinchu, Taiwan, and THEY ARE NOT HURT. Scott Hohnstein, Luke McCarthy, Marcy Perot, Carlee Jarrett, and Melissa Dubitsky are all okay, albeit shaken up. I was told that their power was still off, and phone lines are shaky. I was also told that the city sustained only minor damage - no reports of any high-rises down. To everyone out there who panicked as I did when I heard the news, my heart goes out to you. I also want to extend my prayers and best wishes to the people of Taiwan as they are dealing with this crisis. Scott, Luke, Marcy, Carlee, and Melis - please take care of yourselves. If I can help anyone in any way, just let me know.
Tiffany Ballance, USA

I've heard from the people at Morrison Academy in Taichung. They seem to be relatively safe. The school has been turned into a campsite for local missionaries and others who need to stay out of their buildings.
Carol , USA

I try to contact with my brother (Chong, Shier-Shien) in Lu-Chou Sheng, Taipei. I will like to find out if he and my other family members and house are well. Email: yeh1969@yahoo.com
yeh, yu-Fong, USA

PLEASE HELP ME FIND MY DAD,HE IS LIVING IN TAICHUNG CITY.HIS NAME IS DOUG BRUMFIELD HE LIVES AT HSIANG SHANG RD 9 FL.-3,1 SEC.NO.506 PLEASE IF YOU GET IN CONTACT WITH HIM OR KNOW HOW THAT STREET SUFFERED PLEASE E-MAIL - MARCIAF@COMPUVISION.NET OR CALL ME AT (830)627-0110 THANK YOU
LEIF BRUMFIELD, USA

Concerend about my nephew and his new wife. Jerry & Dina Brewer, c/o Han, 401 sec 2 Chung Shan road, Puli Nan Tou. would appreciate any word. Email: larhov@juno.com
Larry Hovde , USA

I AM TRYING TO CONTACT JASON HO, OF GLORITIME INTNL. PH. 2 23018343. Email: hussain@is.com.fj
HAZEEM HUSSEIN, FIJI ISLANDS

I have a close friend living in Tungshih in Taichang County. Her name is Jeanne Deslandes and she is from Montreal and teach English there. Her family and I are very worry and would like to know if she is OK. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Email: d.germain@pmci.unimelb.edu.au
Doris Germain, Australia

My brother Michael Vincent Aradanas is a Filipino Contract Worker in Gisong Enterprise Co., LTD. with address at No.11-3 Chueh Tsu, Rey Shing Li, Ta Shi Jen, Tao Yuan Hsien, Taiwan. I just want to know if their place was affected by the strong quake. If anyone from Taiwan knows that my brother's address is not affected or whatever, please email me any information. I'll wait please, anybody respond. Thank you very much. Email: maml@manila-online.net
Dr. Mae Aradanas, Philippines

Looking for information on Jack Lai and family (Formosan Kang Dai Plastic Corp), Section 5, Nanking East Road, Taipei. Please call Alan Lambert in US or email his daughter Nancy Lambert at the following: maitri@pacbell.net. Unable to get through by phone, and deeply concerned. We send our thoughts and prayers.
Nancy Lambert, USA

I am trying to learn information about conditions on Changhua. My friend kenneth Lin is a resident of that city. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Email: kblynch@advant.com
Keith Lynch, United States

Please contact me if you have any information on my cousin and his wife; his name is Ronnie Matheny, he is an American that teaches English in Taiwan. His wife's name is Roseann. Please if you have any information please contact as soon as possible. Email: dmiller@vallnet.com
Debbie Miller, USA

I have my fiancée' there named Dong Mallari who works at mega media corporation please e-mail me at grace_cura@hotmail.com regarding his whereabouts. Thanks in advance.
Mary Grace c. Cura, Philippines

My friend, Michael McCollister, teaches at Feng Chia University. His brother told me that he's o.k. I am wondering about the area around Feng Chia, how badly was it hit? If anyone sees Michael in Taiwan, please tell him to write me at Mikhail@frognet.net.
Jean Mikhail, USA

There is a list of all victim 's names at the link--http://news.sinanet.com/breaking/tw-quake/0922/1.html.
Hui-Hua Wen, USA

I am looking for information about my friends Angela and Tim Virnig, Americans teaching English with Hess language school in Taichung. If you know anything, please contact me at: jsherman@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Jenn Sherman, USA

The initial quake was bad enough, but I think the scariest thing now, and what makes it so different from any earthquake I've ever experienced before, is that it is ongoing -- every minute, if you were to sit quietly and "feel" the ground, you'd feel these tiny tremors, like you're out at sea. It is as if the earth beneath you is alive, and the genie is about to break out any minute. It is like those horror films where you think the monster is dead, but then it leaps out at you at the most unexpected moment.

I'm touched though by how resourceful people are, and how much altruism there is. Restaurants are staying open despite power shortages, using candles for lighting and natural gas in tanks for cooking. People are parking their cars in front of the windows of their homes and leaving the headlights on so they can see in the dark. Shop owners, unable to use their barcode scanners and cash registers, are back to good old arithmetic. But the fact that everyone is putting on a brave face and going on with their lives, I think, is pretty remarkable.
Chris Wen-Chao Li, Taiwan

Tonight I went out with my friend through a city of darkness. Some places were open and lit by candlelight and the street food vendors who have self contained little cookers were doing a booming business. I can tell you this. I don_t like earthquakes very much and the waiting for another big aftershock is nerve wracking. Such things tend to put a little stress in one_s life. It_s after midnight and I don_t want to go to sleep even though I am exhausted. I don_t want to wake up again to the deep rumbling of the shaking earth and and swaying building. It_s a terrible way to wake up. Knowing another can come at any moment is a terrible way to go to sleep.
William Stanley, Taiwan

It was almost 12.30 I was asleep with my boy friend. I heard a terrible sound and heard that my brother was crying with pain. In a few moments our home fell down. We ran toward the door, my boyfriend was injured seriously and killed before my eyes. I lost my brother and mother in this earthquake. I was crying for help but no one could help me.
Hisinyin Wang, Taiwan

I was fast asleep on 14th floor of Sherwood Hotel in Taipei when my bed started to shake. I could only think of God and my family. Ran to the stairs and out to the lobby. My first and hope the last experience like this. Another one at 5:45. I managed to come back by taking an earlier flight. My prayers and well wishes to all in Taiwan.
Ahsan Bukhari, USA

Man! I was sitting at home playing Command & Conquer after visiting every bar in Taoyuan, when I felt a little shaking. Next thing you know, the floor gives in and I'm laying on the guy on the downstairs floor and things are falling all over me. This guy runs out of his bedroom and had to dig me up. We both ran out of the house very fast.
Shayne Anderson, US

It was horrifying! The quakes continued striking and striking. The major one came suddenly less than a second after I heard the generator across the street starting and lasted for more than 10 seconds.

We all worry about the safety of buildings, afraid that tragedies will happen again and again. Electricity in our area has been repaired quickly. But some of my friends and relatives are still out of electricity, water and gas. The situation is critical, because in 1916 this place had quakes 4 times in half a year. So it might happen again soon. The real horror is that nobody knows when it will come again.
Chen Chao-Shiang, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China

How terrible it was! The number of death is madly increasing. We couldn't sleep last night and the electricity support was just returning (just in some parts of Taipei and south of ChanHua!). The newspapers are filled with the news about it.
We're afraid.
Li-ming Tseng, Taiwan

My sister, Angela Symonds, lives and works in Taichung. She called to let me know that she and her husband were alive and well. She was ringing from a friend's mobile in a car. Rain was threatening and people had been advised not to return to buildings. She rang me again about 12.30 today, they had spent the night in the car but had been able to return to their flat for an inspection visit during the morning. There was no electricity so it was a long climb.

The building was very perceptibly shaking from time to time and she said it was extremely scary. The part of Taichung where she lives is apparently less badly affected than the other side. She has been down to the town centre and seen the extensive damage there. She is listening constantly to the news both local and international as more information becomes available. She was at Nantou just a couple of days ago right by a wine factory which is reported as having exploded as soon as the earthquake struck.
Alison Barlow, UK

I just left Taiwan about a month ago. I experienced a similar earthquake just about 5 years ago. But that was probably nothing compared to this one. I just hope that the death toll won't go any higher than it is. I also wish that all my relatives and friends in Taipei are ok. My deepest compassion for those who lost their family members in the quake.
Han-Hsuan Lin, Taiwan/now living in Europe

I was on the 15th floor of the Gran Formosa Hotel in Taipei. I had just turned the light out to go to bed when I heard a noise. I thought it may have been someone in the room. I went to turn the light back on but the power had failed. the whole hotel then suddenly started to rock. It swayed to and fro for about 30 seconds before stopping.

During that time the table in my room had toppled over and the lamps fell over. I rushed down to the reception where most of the guests had gathered. For the next couple of hours I walked around the block, in the pouring rain, while feeling plenty of aftershocks. finally, when I found out the epicentre was nearly 100 miles away, I returned to my room. I phoned my friends and family back home in Britain before being called by the department head who asked if I wanted to leave Taipei. I couldn't get away quick enough !
Alan Jones, United Kingdom

I was on the 9th floor of a hotel in Hsinchu (50km SSW Taipei) when the earthquake struck. The hotel I am staying in is only a year old, and hence has been designed to cope with earthquakes. The experience was like nothing I have ever experienced before. You would have to pay good money for that kind of ride in Florida! I couldn't stand up - all I could do is sit on the edge of the bed and wait for the side to side motion to stop. It lasted about 20 seconds.

There were a number of smaller shocks soon after. It didn't take long for the manager to call all the residents down to the lobby. There has been no structural damage to the hotel (Hotel Royal). It has it's own generators which have kept the electricity going - all the surrounding area lost power from the time of the quake until about 9pm. However, as I am typing this the power has gone again, and the hotel systems have kicked in. We are still receiving small shocks which we are getting used to now!
Kevin Holohan, Taiwan

Hsinchu - Just before 2 AM local time I was suddenly awaken by the initial quake at the Carlton Hotel, located in Hsinchu, near the Science-Based Industrial Park home of the world largest semiconductor foundries and many other semiconductor manufacturers.

Compared to my experience of living 4 years in Japan, this was felt as a major earthquake. My hotel room was located on the 5th floor of the 12th floor building and the disturbance was very significant. I immediately proceed to the door and as the magnitude did not subside went to the reinforced steel doorframe leading to the fire stairs. Eventually evacuated the room and proceeded to the hotel lobby/entrance where most residents had gathered. Road traffic was intense and emergency services were doing regular rounds. No major damage was obvious in centre of Hsinchu. Several aftershocks were felt some of significant magnitude. Finally returned to my room around 5 am local time and more aftershocks were felt.

Power was interrupted immediately and is still not back on. Drove to several of the water fabrication plants and all our business meeting were cancelled as management proceeded with damage assessment. No visible damage of any kind could be observed in the whole area up to CKS international airport, which was operating normally and had electrical power.
E. Danois-Maricq, Hong Kong

I woke up in the midnight because my guitar fell down on the floor. My flat was shaking like a boat on the sea. Then I found there's no electricity and light. Earthquake is usual in Taiwan, but this one is huge. I was scared and decided to go out because it kept shaking more than 10 minutes. Although it's almost one day after the quake happened, the house is still shaking sometimes, even now.
Wen-feng Chang, Taiwan

I was watching TV when suddenly all electricity was cut. After a few seconds a huge shake hit the house. I have lived in Taiwan for 3 years end experienced a few small earthquakes but this one lasted for minutes of constant shaking. All the books, glasses and other things were falling down. At around 5 a.m. another, a lighter shake struck the hose. I thought: Is it going to last forever...???
Jack Zalewski, Poland/Taiwan

I was fast asleep when the earthquake struck. At first I heard our wind chimes ringing and thought that my girlfriend had come home after a nights work. Then the building shook moving furniture and toppling CD's. Then I realised that my girlfriend couldn't make so much noise coming in. I was too tired to be really scared, but later with the aftershocks I started to consider going outside. I had no idea this was such a serious event. It was only when my girlfriend came in and told me about the loss of life that I realised I had mostly slept through a major earthquake.
Andrew Hoyle, Taiwan

I live just outside of Chia-Yi which is a city in the middle region of Taiwan about an hours drive SW of the epicentre. We were woken by violent shaking at around 1:50am. Our bedroom is on the second floor and so we made a dash for the front door. The whole house seemed like it was made of jelly as the walls were just moving an incredible amount. I looked outside to see the cars in the street literally bouncing up and down off the ground. The first wave must have lasted for about 30 seconds but it seemed more like a life time. After five or ten minutes another wave hit which was just as violent. It was after this second wave that the residents in the housing estate started to leave their premises and wait out on the street. There were around five subsequent after shocks that were still big but only lasting for a couple of seconds.

Right now the time is 9pm the day after and we've been feeling smaller after shocks all day. In fact we've just experienced one as I'm writing this. There have been some reports of a building collapsing in Chia-Yi on the local radio and that there were some fatalities but generally Chia-Yi was lucky compared to Taichung and Nantou City.
Michael Hull, Taiwan

It was devastating to see our people still under in debris! I am lucky to be alive. Please pray for us!
Alicia Chou, Taiwan

At this very moment, the earth is still shaking. It's been like this for the whole day! This morning actually started out beautifully. It was unseasonably cool and breezy. About 2 am, I woke up realising the bed was shaking like crazy. A nightmare? I stayed motionless for a few seconds and was thrown out of my bed. A low-pitched humming sound accompanied cracking noise form the bathroom. I jumped up, put on the first clothes I could find and ran downstairs. It was dark outside. The first quake lasted for only one minute, but it started again whenever we wanted to get back inside. I walked 2 miles to my parents' house to make sure everyone was OK. Nobody was able to sleep again. It's been a long day for everyone here. There have been 1500 people found dead. In my 30 years of life, I have never anything this horrifying.
Wei-ming Wang, Taiwan

I've been in many quakes here, all 6s, but this is my second 7 and the first here. The first thing, on the 5th floor of an apartment building, the shaking was crazy. The shaking wasn't in a circular pattern, it was violent back and forth. It was really hard to walk in it, I was walking around like a drunk. The shaking continued for well over 30 seconds- at least that's what it felt like. I live in the northern part of Taipei, in Tien Mou where the ground is basically rock. After the initial quake, nothing around in this area was damaged, just a few fallen tiles. The aftershocks were quite powerful, rattling the chandeliers and the windows. Until I heard about the damage o the south of us, I was amazed at how well Taiwan stood up. Considering the earthquake was bigger than the recent one in Turkey, the nation held up very well.
Malik Sihota, Taiwan

My girlfriend is in Taiwan at the moment returning home for 3 weeks to see her family. Monday night I was talking to her on an internet phone, just talking quite happily. Then she went quiet then she said 'I think we're having an earthquake......oh god '. I heard banging, then her shout for help, then I heard her scream loudly and the line was lost. I managed to contact her using the normal telephone line, she is fine and so is her family. Thank god. I am very sorry to all those that have lost loved ones during this terrible natural disaster. I wish I was there to give my help.
Martin Horrod, UK

I just felt I was swimming in the endless and helpless sea......
James Cheng, Taiwan

As soon as I woke up, I knew it was a big quake. I'm from New Zealand so earthquakes are nothing new, but the way the furniture was dancing around the room and the noise the doors were making made me realise this was something out of the ordinary. A shaking, jolting train ride, bouncing everything about. It lasted for around 4 minutes, sometimes growing then subsiding, all the time I was watching the roof for signs of collapse, ready to make a (probably futile) dash for the doorframe if the worst should happen. As it was, I'm in the south, about 20 miles SE of Kaohsiung (Nei-Pu) and we just got shaken, but the feeling of inexplicable dread I had just afterwards, and the numerous big aftershocks made me feel spooked like I hadn't before. As I recall, this felt even stronger than the July 98 Chiayi earthquake, and certainly longer. There are no signs of damage around here, or in Kaohsiung that I have seen, and life is it's normal busy self, but people are phoning friends and relatives in the area to check if they are ok, or overseas to reassure others that they are.
Noel Dallow, Taiwan

I don't know how to sleep again ever. I have never felt so helpless. Hope everybody is OK. Another long night.
Ben, Taiwan

Mother nature seems to remind us how fragile our lives are. The earthquake itself was a horrific experience but so were the strong & weak aftershocks that were and still are playing with our lives and emotions. I know I am lucky to be alive along with my loved ones. I only hope I can be of some help to those in need.
Su-Ching Chou, Taipei, Taiwan

I am in Hsinchu about 35 miles south of Taipei but closer to the epicentre. They said it was 7.3 here. I was awoken just before 2am and thought the hotel was about to collapse. I remember tremendous noise and creaking sounds, and then all went black. We were evacuating when the 2nd quake struck. Unconfirmed reports of 10 dead around here and I have seen small buildings collapsed. Still no electricity (now 10pm day after) and no hot water, there is also a strong smell of sewage.
Michael Armstrong-Smith, English, mother in Liverpool

There is nothing like a sudden earthquake while you're in deep sleep. It felt like "ten sumo wrestlers rocking your bed" and the after shocks that came in approx 10 min intervals felt like" you're in a nightmare scene when someone shakes your bed!" Next thing the whole city blacked out and eventually lost water supply during the day. When I went out into the dark city where the moon and stars are covered by dark rain clouds, I saw wondering citizens searching for food, water and batteries!
Susan, taiwan, taipei

It is really terrible! We have no light and electricity until 9:00pm in Taipei city. I'm lucky but other people are still in danger. There are more than 1500 people died and more than 200 people are injured! Many people need help!
Joyce Chen, Taipei, Taiwan

My girlfriend is currently staying with her parents in Taiwan, she sent me an E-mail: "Mum asked me to stay with my sister. I was really scared. I don't want to go upstairs just to die with her."
Ting Zwei Kuei, UK

I live in Taipei. Basically the city was pretty much unscathed. Just a couple of high rises fell down, for a city of 6 million people. Central Taiwan got hit much worse. But even so Taiwan's construction standards are very high, so that saved a lot of lives. God bless reinforced concrete.
Steve, UK

My dad and grandparent are all in Nantou, I wish them every good luck.
Felix Chang, England

There is only one word can describe the situation here.. terrible .. so scary. The house was shaking..I am so afraid that my house will collapse. I am lucky, nothing happened to me..I feel so sorry to others who are injured or still trapped in the buildings..
Kelly, Taipei, Taiwan

As it started first I thought it is just one of the usual small tremors we often experience here. But then the shaking just didn't stop and it even became stronger and stronger. As it finally stopped I knew this time was something big and my family was lucky that nothing happened to us.
Emmerich Hahn, Germany / Taiwan

It's so scary. Got waken up by the earthquake at sometime before 2am. My house was shaking like crazy and I thought that I would die. Things were falling and I was trembling. After the major tremor, minors followed. Though not as violent, they were frightening! The location of the epicentre is 150km away, yet it is so violent here. It must have been very, very terrible there. I have many friends living there, but I can't reach them. The communication is cut off, so is the traffic. Besides the place I'm living (southern Taiwan), the other parts are pronounced disaster areas. OVER A THOUSAND PEOPLE HAVE DIED ( death toll might be over 2000, because many towns couldn't be reached), and the news said that another major might break out in two weeks. The country is in chaos. Many places are cut off from the outside and can only be reached by helicopters. I saw from the news that some towns are totally devastated, only rubble can be seen. Many students cried in our school. I'm really sad and scared. It's so terrible.
Julian Yu, Taiwan

From the 10th floor of my apartment building it seemed that the very next sway would bring the whole thing crashing down. What made this earthquake different from others we regularly experience was the duration. The initial quake seemed to last for a full two or three minutes. I have lived in Taiwan for 13 years and this was a frightening reminder of just how powerful mother nature can be.
Wayne Lovett, Taiwan

I'm am 18 years old girl living in Taiwan. I live in Taipei. When it happened, I was sleeping. I was shaken...so huge and so long...I just can sat on my bed...but there was no electricity..until now...(it's 5:00pm now) but I have heard that in Taichung, the situation is harder...the road rose 3 meters high...and the bridge also broke... and the dead were many...so that all they could do was lay the dead bodies on the road...
Irene Liu, Taiwan

It shocked us very severely last night, lots of people fled their homes onto the streets. There was no signs at all before the quake, first the power went off, then the quake followed. It came so suddenly. In the dark, I crawled for a flashlight, and after the nearly one minute of shaking, I went waking up to my granny and met my uncle in the living room. Because there were still many aftershocks, my uncle took us all to a near park to avoid further damage. Anyway, it was so terrible that it reminds me of the earthquake in Turkey some days before. I hope to have no more tragedy. Sorry for those who have died and lost their family.
YCC, Taiwan

Basically there is no big problem in Metro Taipei except the 2 building collapses in Song Shang and Shing Chuan. However, due to the power and water outage, it really makes inconveniences citizens. The main disaster happened in central Taiwan (Nan Tou County and Taichung city and county). Taichung is the 3rd big city in Taiwan with a population of 1 million people. More than 1455 persons have been killed by now (according to the Radio report). Some people in Taipei who have professional equipment and experience (4WD cars/Wirless phone) just gathered together to drive to central Taiwan to help people.
Tomas Li, Arts Officer British Council, Taipei, Taiwan

I have been working on a project on the east side of Taiwan trying to reduce the number of deaths and the amount of damage to infrastructure associated with typhoons and earthquakes in Taiwan. I expect that the maximum damage will be seen on the west and north sides of the island where the population density is highest and the cities are built on young sediments.

The central part of the island is a high mountain chain with low population density, such that the number of deaths will hopefully be relatively low there. However, it is likely that there will be massive infrastructure damage. The East Side of the island has a couple of large cities. However, the geology (hard, metamorphic rocks) will hopefully mean that the damage inflicted by the earthquake is low. My contact in Taroko (just north of Hualien on the East Coast) tells me that the damage there is quite light.
Dr David Petley, University of Portsmouth, UK

God bless my family and my people.
Herbert Hsu, Taiwan, now work in Skopje

It was terrible. Though in the region I live (the South part) is Ok..but you could still hear things broken....Every one was shaken up..but after turning on the TV set..we found that rest of the country is much worse...
Ian Lee, Taiwan

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