JOHOR BARU: Sarah Chan thought she was suffering a dizzy spell when she noticed her coffee cup wobbling on her table while eating breakfast in her apartment one morning last year.
It turned out that the movement was caused by tremors from a 6.2-magnitude earthquake that hit west Sumatra around 9.43am local time on Feb 25, 2022.
“I asked my son whether he felt it too, as it happened twice quite quickly. I realised later that it was due to an earthquake when I browsed social media,” she said.
The 40-year-old mother of two said she has not felt tremors at her home in Taman Tampoi Indah since, despite earthquakes occurring in the following year, including the one in Sumatra on April 25.
For graphic designer Leong Sai Pial, the memory of seeing his surroundings wobble as a result of an earthquake in a neighbouring country five years ago remains fresh in his mind.
The 50-year-old said he was teaching in an art academy on the 31st floor of Menara Landmark here more than five years ago when the tremors happened.
“We were in the middle of a class when I noticed the room shaking and the chairs sliding around suddenly.
“My colleague yelled for the students to flee the building.
“The whole thing happened in a matter of seconds, so nobody knew exactly how to react,” he said.
Leong said he has experienced tremors on and off for the past 10 years while working at the building, but none as severe as the recent one.
Civil servant Mohamad Isamuddin Mohamad Isa, who stays on the 21st floor at Residensi PR1MA Tebrau, hopes that the building he lives in is strong enough to withstand future tremors.
“I last felt tremors while working from home last year.
“My wife was having breakfast, and she screamed after seeing her drink ‘move’ by itself – it lasted only for a few seconds.
“After that, our neighbourhood WhatsApp group started flooding with messages from residents who felt the same thing,” the 32-year-old said.
