Monday, May 12, 2008

Ready to Rumble

Today the earth literally moved for Charming Calvin. Right under his feet.


Unfortunately I wasn't the cause of it. Swear not even I could make the earth shudder at a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale. Hell, I'm just not that good. But Mother Nature certainly can make things rumble and she did so just this afternoon in Sichuan Province, China.

Even hundreds of miles away in the northern capital of Beijing, Calvin felt the resultant tremors with the rest of his panicked colleagues who all rushed out of their vulnerable glass-and-metal skyscraper to hurry haphazardly to the open areas below. That - and he sent an urgent message to me.

So how would you reply in the event of an earthquake? I know sentimental folks would sent weepy mushy mawkishness across the bandwidth but I told him to head towards an open area far from any falling debris - and if not, to hide under a sturdy table or doorway. Then I started googling for precautionary measures to take in the unlikely event of an earthquake.

Hiding Man
Would hiding in a bathtub help?

Hell if I ever knew all this. We're fortunate enough to live in the Malaysian peninsula - situated on the relatively stable Sunda Shelf a hairsbreadth away from the infamous Pacific Ring of Fire - hence the relative lack of natural calamities such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Turns out I was actually paying attention during those interminably dull geography lessons.

Those mild tremors felt by us in the past few years are nothing in comparison to those felt right up close at the epicentre.

Faced with such an unexpected catastrophe, I'd probably allow myself a moment to start screaming hysterically for a brief second ( maybe two ) before ruthlessly slapping myself alert to start barking orders. Seriously, I'm a man of action. I don't do wailing endlessly like an idiot wringing my hands helplessly - while a huge chunk of brick and mortar falls unerringly towards me. And that's if the earth doesn't crack open to swallow me.

Horrifying thought. There's rumour that another slight tremor might follow tonight so here's a quick prayer to the folks over there hoping that they make it through alright.

7 comments:

Ganymede said...

Poor Charming Calvin. :(

Anonymous said...

My friend text me when that happened...but all I replied was,"Ah okies...I am asleep now. see ya when you get back!"

TJay said...

Paul,

I was worried about Calvin as I didn't know what city he was located. I'm glad he's ok!

Saying a prayer for all of them.

Sorry that I've been MIA; running someones re-election campaign, writing a new story and dealing with puppies.

All the best

TJay

Anonymous said...

Glad to know your Charming Calvin's fine,
Escaped he did from a tremor talentine,
Yet how humourous and how very divine
Did you weave your concern most genuine...

Okay, no idea why I went all rhyming-miming there... but you're the funniest doc I know! :)

Adding you to my RSS Reader rightaway! And btw, very cool blog header there. Very cool.

Unknown said...

Hope he's okay and the people there too.

luke! said...

so sad :(
pray for the people there
and for the people in myanmar

Little Dove said...

Savante shrieking? Now that I want to see. Kidding! ;p

I think you are very calm, self-composed and level-headed. That's sensible advice to give to Charming Calvin in times of an earthquake. Hope he's alright over there.