I haven't yet and don't think I can get used to the weather here in Taiwan. 34 degrees Celsius (that's right I'm metric now) everyday, torrential rain, and although not technically categorized as "weather" the stifling pollution. As if that's not bad enough Taiwan also has seasonal typhoons (starting about nowish and continuing until November), several dormant volcanoes (Taipei's most popular day trip spot is one such volcano- Yangminshan), and earthquakes. Until last night I haven't had the privilege of experiencing the latter....be it in Taiwan, or the States or anywhere else. We don't really have many earthqaukes in New York. But Taiwan has them. A lot of them. The last and most serious one occurred on September 21, 1999 the epicenter was close to Taichung on the West coast and measured 7.3 on the Richter scale.
Obviously and thankfully this earthquake wasn't as serious (no reports of injuries as of late) or as severe. The epicenter was located way off shore a few miles of the East coast. Still it was my first experience with an earthquake and it was a freaky feeling. Waking up feeling like someone is violently shaking you awake...and not knowing why is a little disorienting. Thankfully after a few intense minutes it was over. No harm or serious damage (so far reported).
Eh I'll just add that to the long list of things I've never experienced before I came to Taiwan. I think I'll file it under "things that scared the Sh** out of me"; right up there with Typhoons, Taipei taxi drivers, reckless scooter/truck drivers, and the bar Carnegie's; the last of which, some would argue, can be considered much more traumatizing than any Earthquake.
brian
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