'Like a roller-coaster ride': S'poreans in Japan recount quake

As Mr Melvyn

- Sherlyn Sim

Xu was winding down for the night in his hotel room in the city of Hakodate in Hokkaido, his phone blared a loud alarm at around 11pm.The 48-year-old property agent was shocked to see an alert warning that a major earthquake was imminent and that he should take shelter immediately.

Before he could react, his hotel room began shaking violently.

Speaking to The Straits Times on Dec 9, Mr Xu, who was on holiday with his wife and 12-year-old son, said: “We panicked and didn't know what to do. We did not dare to run out of the room, so all three of us hid under a very narrow table.

“We waited for about a minute or so until the shaking stopped... I wondered if the building would collapse. It was like a roller-coaster ride.”

Just minutes after fearing for their lives, another loud alarm sounded from his phone this time warning of a tsunami.

“My wife was holding my son tightly and making sure his head was under the table, as he is very tall,” said Mr Xu.

After the first tremor, aftershocks followed, and when these subsided, he tried calling the hotel front desk, but no one answered.

Mr Xu was among the Singaporeans affected by the powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake that shook northeastern Japan late on Dec 8. Following the quake, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning, with one wave hitting a port in the northern region of Aomori.

Hakodate, one of Hokkaido's main cities, lies about 121km from Aomori and sits by the sea.