So did you experienced the "earthquake" this afternoon?
The news just reported that St Andrews got a half day off because of the 2 "quakes". It featured students laughing and giggling and waving at the camera as they strolled to the field. I didn't know about the "quakes" until I saw the headlines on the "lian he wan bao" （联合晚报）at the newspaper stand in the evening.
Take a look at Mr. Miyagi's personal reports on the "quakes" in the day here. I didn't feel anything, but it seemed like the whole of Singapore knew about it when the "quakes" occured-- Funny how I always manage to miss out on the good things when they happen. (pout)
I experienced a less-than-fifteen-seconds-mini-earthquakes back in my army days, when I went for training in Taiwan. I was having my lunch when I felt the ground moved under me. I almost thought that the food in Taiwan were finally working their effects on me.
Very disturbing when you had your hands busy and your mouth full of rice, and then your feet moved involuntarily beneath you.
And very disturbing, too, when the ground that you had always thought to be stable, secure, immovable, actually moved.
It just adds a level of warning to you. People in natural-disasters-free Singapore tend to lack that basic level of "wariness" that our ancestors had in the past. If I say it in chinese, it is call 危机感。
And since I am talking chinese here, I might as well introduce an idiom: 居安思危。Roughly translated, it means to be thinking about danger in times of peace.
Why should we do that? Because, (here comes Ocean!ce's lesson) if even the sturdy ground can also move, then there is NOTHING else that one can be sure of.
Also, the lack of 危机感 causes people to lack that calm-and-let-me-keep-cool-so-I-know-what-to-do mind. Bo-bian. No natural disaster how to develop 危机感？ Unless you count the decline in birth rates and the fact that "even less educated don't want children" as a natural disaster. (link here)
