OMGosh. There were tremors in school. I felt them.

We were doing our physics quiz in C301 when the tremors hit at about 11.55am. I (we all) thought I was falling asleep. No, cannot be. I'm awake. Is someone rubbing the eraser so hard that it's causing the row tables to shift back and forth. cannot be...

I looked up and faced the majority of the class (i was seated at the top right hand corner) and asked,"What's happening?" [i'm sorry but my memory isn't very clear about that] Trying to do the quiz during the tremor was like trying to do it on a very unstable car ride.

It was a tremor.

Mr Lee told everyone, "everyone, pack your bags, leave the room, go to the field or some open space..." [not exact words]. So, in the middle of the quiz, we packed up and left. We were the only class who was walking off to downstairs. We all hung around the study area next to d101.

When I was downstairs I immediately called MP.

"MP, the school shook!" "What?!" "There was a tremor, did you feel it?" "no" she was at SP by the way. I had a vivid alarmed conversation with her on the phone.

Mr Lee came back and told all of us to go to the field. When we were approaching the canteen we could see a lot more people all converging to the track, semi-d and the nearby portion of the field. later we moved to the gallery where we lined up to take attendance. I didn't agree with standing under the sheltered area. Though it was sunny, what if it crashed on us?

I was scared. For majority of us, we had never experienced a tremor before. I had seen on tv and read about earthquakes and I KNOW what destruction and harm an earthquake can do. I was alarmed.

Mrs Lim told us it was a level 3 tremor (it's not the same as a level 3 earthquake). at this level, everyone in the building has to be evacuated to the outdoors because it is not safe to be indoors. "By right, we should be out there (pointing to the field) because I'll be the first to be killed if the roof collapses," Mrs Lim said, and we laughed.

i agree with the girl interviewed by channel 8 that everyone was not serious about it. Laughing around, not realising the severity of the issue.

after a short while, since the school management couldn't contact the police, we were released back to class. (channel8 news said we had assembled in 7 minutes. wow. fast.)

I got MP to find out what had happened on my way to GP, since physics period was over.

She went to the Meteorological services website and clicked at the link on earthquake information.

An earthquake had hit Sumatra at 11.49am. The epicentre was 430km away from Singapore. At the epicentre, the earthquake was 6.6 on the richter scale.

Oh my gosh. That was serious. In addition, It took only 5 minutes for the tremors to reach where we were.

Elissa, Lynn and I were released from GP early because we were supposed to have chem spa. I was doing a bit of last-minute studying but i couldn't focus because I was still in shock. I prayed to God, I prayed for the Indonesians, I prayed for the school, that God would protect everyone, and I prayed that he remove my anxiety. When I recalled the verse "eventhough I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I do not fear for You are with me" from Psalms 23 and a feeling of relief washed over me. I thanked God for it. He protects me and still will protect me.

Ms Sunarfa came up a while after the class had gathered upstairs and told us that we couldn't have our spa at 1pm as planned because the 2 previous classes had their spa interrupted 40 minutes into the exam and had to redo the entire thing. We were then given the 2pm slot.

Some of us went down to have lunch together. We saw the channel 8 newsreporter and also the channelnewsasia political correspondent S. Ramesh. Can see the TV camera and the crew milling around. The malay teacher in charge of first aid was interviewed if i'm not wrong, because i didn't see her face but i recognised her.

When I was climbing up the stairs between the 3rd and 4th floor to the chem lab, my friend Tanya called my name. We had a chat. She was going to NYP Mass Comm. wow. While talking, I was standing on the steps, leaning against the metal handbars. I felt another tremor, though it was quite a short one, (though it should be longer since the aftershock was the same magnitude of 6.6), lasting only about 5 seconds. Ei Hong and Tanya didn't feel it. I was sure I felt it. There were a pair of girls standing near the parapet, one girl felt but the other didn't. The girl who felt it was asking "did you feel it?" but her friend disagreed. I approached the girl and told her I felt it. It was CLEAR that there was a second tremor. I went up the stairs and the teacher at the top asked if anyone felt it. I said I did. She instructed us to make our way to the field, and all of us did, in line with Mrs Lim's previous orders. I saw a whole bunch of people walking out of the library. I also saw the cameraman walking to the field with his camera on his shoulders.

we stood in the field, where it was very humid since there were storm clouds above. I felt warm and uncomfortable. My skin was sticky.

Mr Lee asked us to do our physics quiz. by the way, it's due tomorrow instead of today and i haven't completed it.

Mrs Lim announced that there was an aftershock and for the safety of us, we were dismissed. [btw, tuesday is my early day and we were dismissed later than usual.] She told us to think about the Sumatrans and try to look solemn in front of the camera. Haha.

Throughout this whole incident, I was digging up and applying whatever geography knowledge I had. I predicted that there would be one more aftershock, but I can't tell since where I'm at the ground is solid. I think I am wrong. HR pointed out that potong pasir is on a swamp, which is why we felt it, compared to CJC, which I pointed out was on harder clay, didn't feel it. HK's friend in cj didn't feel it. This whole issue got me thinking on earthquakes and why it happens, what will happen, why some people never feel and some do, what is the effect on the human body. During lunch, Lynn, JH and I still felt slightly that we were vibrating. I think that the quake caused our fluids in the year to be shaken so much that it hasn't stopped shaking. the fluid by the way is in the cochlea and helps give our sense of balance. I also wanted to ask God a quesion, and I did, why did this happen? Why did He want to cause this turn of events to occur? Just wondering. It's so weird. I felt this whole incident, and the feeling of being quaked was so weird.

I prayed a second prayer. Lynn was spooked out by the second quake after she said that she hoped that there wouldn't be tremors during the spa. few seconds later, it shook. This prompted me to pray again for everyone. I feel like crying for the hurt and suffering of Sumatra. I hope that we can do something for them. Maybe a round of donations as a whole school?

SAJC is on the news because we experienced the quake. I missed all the 10pm news because I was blogging! so sad! Lynn posted channel 8 newsclip on her blog, but she doesn't have the clip of Nayan sitting on the field. I want to see it!

I checked the wikipedia richter scale guide and the quake matches the description of 3 to 4 on the richter scale. wow.

Eli, like many others i guess, found this day fun, exciting. I heard that the bookshelf in the library swayed from Seow Wei who was in there. She was thinking," should we hide under the tables?" Mr Lee found it "so cool!" apparently. Eunice said Ms. Sunarfa thought something was wrong with her heels when she was swaying back and forth.

I personally find this an eye-opening experience, a weird, frightening, change of events, a day i'll never forget, I hope.

I hope that the Sumatra people will be safe. I pray that the people affected will receive God's loving kindness and care. I pray that no more people will get hurt.

Chem Spa has been postponed to tomorrow, replacing the physics remedial. eli's bio spa will be given 10 more minutes, since only writing was involved when it got interrupted. Seow Wei's class fortunately finished their chem SPA just before the 2nd tremor was felt. eli, btw, it's tremor, not tremble, though it'll make you want to tremble.