‘We have to get out’: Singaporeans in Bangkok recount their experience during tremors

SINGAPORE – When a ceiling pane shattered and crashed to the ground, Singaporean Erica Liu instinctively ducked under a table with several Thai colleagues, shielding herself from the debris.

The deafening noise around her sounded like relentless drilling, but within moments, a voice cut through the chaos: “It is an earthquake! Evacuate now!”

Grabbing a stranger’s hand, the 41-year-old IT specialist sprinted down the stairs from the 16th floor towards open space as tremors rocked Bangkok, where her office building was located.

Singaporeans in the Thai capital of Bangkok said they rushed out of high-rise buildings after feeling tremors following a powerful earthquake in neighbouring Myanmar on March 28.

They recounted to The Straits Times scenes of people running to open areas, swaying buildings and metro services being suspended, with long queues forming at bus and taxi stands.

Ms Irene Yap was just finishing lunch at a restaurant in the MBK Centre shopping mall with her sister and niece on a holiday trip when she felt the tremors and saw the eatery sway.

“We initially wondered what it was, because we have never felt it in Singapore.

“But after the first sway, I said we have to get out,” the 67-year-old retiree said, adding that this was her first time experiencing tremors, which she described as “terrifying”.

The earthquake, measuring 7.7 in magnitude

, rocked Myanmar, with a second temblor of 6.4 magnitude felt soon afterwards.

The quake shook buildings and triggered evacuations in neighbouring Thailand and Vietnam.

Three major malls in downtown Bangkok – Siam Paragon, Siam Centre and Siam Discovery – will be temporarily closed for inspections to assess their safety, mall operator Siam Piwat Group said.

Ms Yap said that upon experiencing the tremors, everyone rushed out from MBK Centre, but the crowd was orderly, and there were no scenes of panic.

Many people, including Ms Yap and her family, headed to an open area across the mall.

By then, she noticed that MBK and the surrounding buildings were shut. The BTS skytrain was also not moving.

Despite her experience, Ms Yap and her family, who arrived in the Thai capital on the morning of March 26, will not be cutting short their trip. The trio will leave on the evening of March 30 as planned.

Ms Vanessa Szeto, 55, who was on holiday with her three friends, said they were in their hotel lobby in the Pratunam neighbourhood when they felt a tremor at 1.30pm local time (2.30pm Singapore time), which left them feeling uneasy.

Moments later, they saw hotel employees and security personnel running to the streets, prompting them and other hotel guests to follow suit.

“We saw electricity cables swaying. There was a big heavy bell outside the hotel, and it was also swaying. Those already on the street started shouting and filming,” she said, adding that she saw a high-rise building with water sloshing out from its pool.

Ms Szeto, who works as a Grab driver, said that while she and her friends will not cut short their trip as they are scheduled to leave Bangkok on March 29, they are nevertheless “petrified” to stay in their rooms, located on the 19th floor of the hotel.

“We reckon the whole city will be congested, and there is really nothing we can do for now,” she added.

While Mr Nicholas Chan, who is touring Thailand, did not experience the tremors, he had an inkling that something was wrong when he had to wait nearly 20 minutes for a train from Suvarnabhumi Airport to the city.

In the end, the train service to the city was cancelled, and train employees advised travellers to opt for either a bus or a taxi to the city.

“I am now having lunch because nothing is moving. I am waiting for the crowd to thin out and staying put here for a while in case there are more aftershocks,” said the 34-year-old outreach manager with a non-governmental organisation. He added he has no plans to cancel his holiday.

Mr Kaustubh Patwardhan, 44, who works in strategy and business development, was on the 16th floor of his office in Bangkok when he felt the building sway.

“It was scary as the whole building was shaking, walls were cracking around us, and bricks and debris were falling,” he said, describing the chaos.

People were crying, and the scene was, as he put it, “all panic”.

After evacuating safely with his colleagues, he rushed to the airport to catch the next available flight back to Singapore.

Meanwhile, Ms Christine Lee, 39, was having lunch with her husband in their seventh-floor apartment when she felt tremors.

The Singaporean homemaker, who has been living in Bangkok for six years, initially thought she was feeling dizzy.

The couple decided to evacuate their apartment after they realised it was an earthquake.

Although some tiles fell off a pillar in the bathroom and there were some cracks on the kitchen ceiling, the apartment had since been cleared as safe by in-house engineers, Ms Lee told ST.

The Singapore Embassy in Bangkok urged Singaporeans in Thailand to stay alert to their surroundings, as damaged buildings and infrastructure may be safety hazards.

They should also be vigilant, monitor the local news for updates, and heed the advice of the local authorities.

Those in need of consular assistance can contact the embassy on +66-2-348-6700 or Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs duty office.