https://www.asiaone.com/asia/hotel-and-bus-tickets-cancelled-japan-earthquake-forces-some-singaporean-tourists-amend
PHOTO: Facebook/Andrew Toh
Some Singaporeans have been forced to amend their itinerary after a magnitude 7.6 quake hit Japan on Monday (Jan 1), causing tsunamis to strike their west coast, Lianhe Zaobao reported on Tuesday.
Chen, 27, was in a shopping mall in Nagoya with his friends when he suddenly saw an earthquake alert pop up on his phone on Monday, Zaobao reported.
Within seconds, the ground started shaking.
"The quake lasted for about half a minute," Chen recalled. "Some shoppers were in a panic and didn't know what to do, but others were calm and took the escalators to the lower floors."
Chen and his friends had originally planned to travel out of Nagoya the next day and had even sent their luggage to their destination in Kanazawa, but the earthquake forced them to make changes.
"Our hotel and bus tickets were cancelled and we don't even know if we can claim insurance for this," he said.
"It's the New Year today so many people go to shrines to pray. There's a festive atmosphere on the streets, but no one expected a natural disaster."
Speaking with AsiaOne, another Singaporean Andrew Toh recalled his family's experience with the earthquake while they were in Osaka over the weekend.
He had posted about his experience on Facebook group Singaporeans Travelling to Japan yesterday.
Toh, 53, was resting in his hotel room at around 4pm when he suddenly felt a little dizzy while looking at his phone.
"The first thing that came to mind was wondering if there was an earthquake. Then, the shaking started to intensify," he recounted.
"It lasted nearly two minutes and once it stopped, I stepped out of my room and headed to my daughter and wife's room to check on them."
Toh didn't panic despite his first time encountering an earthquake, and decided to return to his hotel room as he felt that an evacuation order would be announced by the hotel if it was necessary.
"There were smaller aftershock tremors till around 5pm but they were so much milder," he added.
Fortunately, his plans were not affected by the earthquake.