You’re living overseas and enjoying life in a new country but then something happens in that country that changes everything. Not talking about war, but maybe a public debate, a new politician on the scene, a recession, or an election. Something that flipped how you see your new home. For better or worse.
For me, living in Malaysia all was going smoothly. An amazing country. But when COVID hit, non-Malaysians really became a target. You had vaccines prioritised for Malaysians and the government using the pandemic as an excuse to round up illegal migrants to deport them. Instilling more fear at a time of fear.
Lived in Bali for a year and realized that I never want to live in a country/state with earthquakes. Really wanted to try living in Japan but my fear of earthquakes is just too much even when they’re not strong the fact that you can’t predict them and when they start you never know how strong one will be is scary. We had a few days where we had multiple earthquakes each day and many were felt as in shaking the building roughly. Nothing bad happened but the stress of never knowing what’s going to hit and how strong it’ll be isn’t something I want to experience again. This time it was a 5.4 but next time it could very well be 7+.
If you live in a country with relatively decent building codes, 99% of quakes won’t be a big deal. A quake which could kill dozens of people in Bali wouldn’t interrupt dinner in Tokyo.
Yeah definitely there was a 5.6(something in the 5s) in Jakarta when we lived in Bali and 200 people died it kinda made me paranoid.
I think after a while especially like you said in a country with good building codes you get used to it but the first few times it’s really unsettling.
Mate, when was the last time Bali got hit by a major earthquake that killed lots of people? Not being flippant but compared to most of Indonesia, Bali is safe when it comes to earthquakes (as is the capital Jakarta)
I’m not specifically talking about Bali but more so that I realized I’d rather not live in a place with earthquakes. I grew up in countries/states where the biggest natural disaster was probably a snowstorm every once in a while. No tornados, barely any hail, barely any lightening. So to me it was quiet a shock the first time I experienced an earthquake. Keep in mind that this year new york state had a small earthquake 3.8 and my family there and everyone I knew were flipping out and panicking it was the first time they had ever felt an earthquake it was on the news and a huge deal.
In the future, I’d try and avoid settling in a country that is nestled within an area called the “Pacific Ring of Fire”
It was fun and I didn’t think it would really bother me that much until I experienced it 🙂 I am not sure why my experience seems to bother you. I knew Bali had earthquakes and from my experience there decided not to try and emigrate to a place with even stronger earthquakes. I’m sorry my fear of earthquakes bothers you. I loved Bali and the locals really treated my family kindly.