‘It was something out of an apocalyptic movie': Maltese man’s earthquake ordeal

A Maltese athlete who was in his 30th-floor apartment when a powerful earthquake hit Bangkok on Friday said he thought he was not going to survive the quake that devastated Myanmar and parts of Thailand.

“I was panicking so much - I never experienced an earthquake before. I had no idea what was going on and at that moment I thought I was going to die,” Stephen Sammut Nurminen told Times of Malta.

Large cracks left in the walls of the building.

The 38-year-old, known for his challenging charity runs, had been living in Thailand for over a year when a shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar on Friday afternoon. The earthquake was followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock.

According to US geologists, the tremors were powerful enough to severely damage buildings across Bangkok, despite the Thai capital being more than 1,000km away from the epicentre.

When the earthquake hit at 1.25pm, Sammut Nurminen was in his high-rise apartment with his dog, working at his desk.  At first, he noticed the building moving slightly from side to side, but thought it was just very windy.

“All of a sudden, the building started to move quite aggressively, my bedroom door was opening and shutting,” he said.

“I started to panic when the building started to make squeaking noises. The noises reminded me of the sound from the film Titanic when it was half-submerged in the water.”

While on the phone with his cousin, Sammut Nurminen grabbed his dog and sat down on the floor next to his sofa.

“I was so scared. Items were falling from the shelves, and the apartment was a mess. Once the shaking started to slow down, I heard my neighbours in the common parts calling out to each other, shouting.”

Once it was over, he looked outside his window and saw residents in the car park.

“Water from an outdoor pool on the sixth floor fell onto the car park and damaged a number of cars. It was a mess. It reminded me of something out of a movie.”

After climbing down 30 flights of stairs, he noticed the building had large cracks snaking across the walls. He then joined other shocked residents in the car park, waiting for a plan of action.

“There were people with no shoes on, or shirts, some just wrapped in towels,” he said.

People outside stores after the earthquake.

Chaos in the streets

He returned to the apartment shortly afterwards, and he left with a few belongings and his dog.

“I didn’t feel safe staying in the apartment. We got into the car and drove away from other high-rise buildings,” he said.

The extensive damage along the corridor outside the couple's apartment.

The situation in the streets was chaotic.

“Bangkok is already known for its crazy traffic, but it took me an hour to drive just 1km. It was crazy, there were a lot of police, fire engines.”

Just 6km away from his place, a high-rise had collapsed.

Sammut Nurminen went to a convenience store to buy supplies.

When his girlfriend, Alita, returned to Bangkok from travelling that evening, the couple went to their apartment to collect more items.

“We didn’t feel safe with the idea of sleeping in the apartment after seeing all that damage. Other neighbours felt the same, as we saw many rushing out of the building with their suitcases.”

The couple were back on the road by 9pm and spent another three hours driving around looking for a place to sleep.

“Many hotels were fully booked or did not accept dogs, so it was a long and difficult night. We stayed in the area close to the airport as it was marked as a safe zone. By around 4am, we arrived at a petrol station, where we could shower and freshen up.”

The couple found a place in Pattaya, an hour and 15-minute drive from Bangkok, where they plan to stay for the rest of the weekend.

“We have been informed that the high-rise is being inspected and assessed, but right now I do not feel safe to go back inside a high-rise building. I know many others feel the same way as me.”

The earthquake damaged the common parts of the building Stephen Sammut Nurminen lives in.

Friday’s earthquake had a lasting impact on the ultra-runner. His main concern is whether the high-rise building is safe to withstand a slight tremor after the damage it sustained.

“It’s moments like these when I remember how safe Malta is. I also think about how lucky we are - how one moment we can be gone just like that.”

By Saturday evening, the death toll from the earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand passed 1,600, as rescuers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors.