学进去

Cruising along the long country road in my car, I was singing at the top of my lungs to help pass the time. It was just before midnight and I was making the two-hour journey to see my then-boyfriend, Richard, who lived two hours apart.

Around 20 minutes in, I was driving down a straight stretch of road, when my steering wheel started jerking from side to side and the car shook violently. The wind is strong here, I thought. But when my car suddenly pulled to the other side of the road, the reality of what was happening dawned on me. I was in the middle of an earthquake!

Situated between a mountain on one side and power lines on the other, I was far too scared to stop in case they came crashing down on top of me. Instead, I decided the safest option was to keep driving slowly. But, as the ground continued to shake beneath me, I grew more frightened by the second.

When it finally stopped, I found a safe place to pull over and check my mobile for reception. But there was nothing. Shaken, I was desperate to make my way to the nearest town to find service as quickly as possible.

Traveling at around 100km/h, I noticed a strange shadow on the road ahead. As I got closer, I realized the bridge in front of me had been removed from the road and had risen around 30 centimeters from the ground. I hit the brakes, but there was no way I could slow down in time. Crashing straight into the raised road, my car broke down finally.

Pain tore through my neck and body. I got out and ran to safety on the other side of the road and screamed for help. But, alone in the dead of night, there was no one around to hear me. Thankfully, around 15 minutes later, I saw two headlights in the distance.