Strabane woman tells of terrifying ordeal during earthquake

A STRABANE woman who works as a kindergarten teacher in Bangkok has spoken of her ‘terrifying’ experience as aftershocks from the earthquake which decimated Myanmar last week were felt as far away as the Thai capital.

Sóífí Bictória Ní Dhonnchaidh, who has lived in Bangkok for the past three years, was in her classroom when aftershocks reverberated throughout the city, some 800 miles away from the epicentre of the 7.7 magnitude quake.

More than 2,700 people have died in Friday’s quake which happened near Sagaing and Mandalay, Myanmar’s second city. The death toll is expected to rise as rescuers continue to pull out bodies from rubble.

Sóífí said: “I was coming back to my kindergarten class and had just reached my desk when I noticed the keyboard was moving – along with my entire desk. At first I thought it was dehydration and I was dizzy but my teaching assistant asked if I felt the shaking so they felt it too.

“Both of us went into split second shock until a student asked me why his chair was moving; it was then we realised there was an earthquake!

“Instinctively I got the kids to hide under the tables and then everyone was told to evacuate the school. Bangkok has never experienced an earthquake so no-one knew what to do procedurally, so everyone left the school and waited outside for further instruction. My first thought was to remain calm so my students wouldn’t be freaked out but they handled the whole situation very well.

“Luckily after a while, we felt no aftershocks but, even days after the quake I’m personally still experiencing headaches and ‘phantom shocks’ which result in dizziness and distress. I live alone in the top floor of a building which has resulted in some anxiety as we don’t know whether this could happen again. I’m sure in time I’ll feel safe again.”

Asked about the mood around Bangkok, Sóífí admits there’s still some apprehension for most people, but stresses that people need to continue ‘moving on’ to fully regain that semblance of normality.

Sóífí further admitted that her parents, who were traveling in Vietnam at the time, were worried sick.

“After we left the building and I knew everyone was safe, I put a message in the family WhatsApp group as I knew with the time zone, they would be waking up and immediately see it on the news, and I didn’t want them to start worrying.

“My parents were able to call me straight away and allay their fears so I’m thankful for that.”