While most of us think it’s just another earthquake, what we don’t think about is our close friends and family, and even our own classmates. Many people have been affected by the Thailand earthquakes, but a member of our community experienced it first-hand. 

Qingqing Chen ’27, a sophomore at ‘Iolani, shared her first-hand experiences of the earthquakes. She shared how the event was an unforgettable first experience of an earthquake and how her and her family were affected. “It was a bit of a shock,[…] I didn’t know what it felt like before.” said Chen. The apartment she had been staying in had shut down, not letting anyone in or out of the building. The earthquake hit while Qingqing and family were at a doctor’s appointment, but everyone barely felt it; her mom not even feeling a shake. They hadn’t realized it was even an earthquake before going outside and seeing many cracks in the neighboring buildings.  This especially was a frightening moment for Qingqing because they weren’t able to get any of their belongings. A particularly frightening moment for her that she recalled was not being able to rescue her cat from their apartment. 

After evacuating, she immediately headed for the airport the next day. The main street to the airport had been so crowded with cars and people trying to walk to the airport with their luggage. Many of these people had been rushed out of the house because of evacuation measures. After many people reported a swaying feeling, the authorities evacuated many buildings in the area and shut down many roads. She says “Many of them, they weren’t prepared, […] so a lot of them were either in the bathroom….[and] some people were not wearing much.” Because of the risk of falling and collapsing buildings, people were rushed out of apartments and other high risk areas. Before they could get to the airport, she waited for grueling hours at the same stoplight. The streets were very crowded with people, mainly tourists trying to get out of the country. Once at the airport, one of the biggest things she noticed was the amount of luggage and people packed into one place. 

As of May 1, 2025, the country has been recovering well and is slowly getting back to normal. Many rescue efforts were made and the country has started to rebuild many of the structures lost to the disaster. As for the community, they are shaken and many lives have been disrupted.