Andie Chen Crouched Alone Near Kitchen During Taiwan Earthquake: “If The House Collapsed, [He’d] Be Near Food & Water”

This morning (Apr 3), Taiwan experienced its strongest earthquake in 25 years. The 7.4 magnitude quake struck near Hualien at around 8am and strong aftershocks could be felt across the island.

Buildings and highways were destroyed, and at least nine people killed.

Like many celebrities, Taiwanese actress Kate Pang, 41, who was out when the quake hit, took to her Instagram to share that she was safe. 

She was on her way home after dropping off her kids — eight-year-old son Aden and six-year-old daughter Avery — at school, while husband, Singaporean actor Andie Chen, 38, was home alone.

Kate also posted several snaps of the havoc wreaked by the quake in their Taipei home.

The floor was strewn with stuff, drawers opened and cupboards out of place. Andie's iMac had also toppled on the table with its screen completely shattered. 

When 8days.sg spoke to Andie in the afternoon, he shared that things were pretty much back to normal, though tremors could still be felt intermittently.

"We just picked the kids up from school and they seem to be okay. Everything's okay, it's just that our house is in a mess so we're picking up the pieces," he said. 

Though he's experienced minor quakes over the past three years he's been based there, this was the worst. 

"I received an alert on my phone saying that there's an earthquake in Hualien. Before I could finish reading the message, the quake hit," he recalled.

Andie rushed to safety, "kneeling at the archway between the living room and kitchen".

"The house was shaking rather violently and I watched as everything fell off the shelves. Once the first quake was over, I took my phone and wallet and went downstairs to try to contact my wife and kids. The kids' teacher told me they were fine and were gathered at the field," he recounted.

Unable to locate Kate, who had left her mobile phone at home, Andie returned home to wait for her.

Is it safe to wait in the house, we asked.

"You see, Singaporeans don't know," he chuckled. "It's the same for me, I didn't know how bad the situation was. In my mind I thought, 'Okay, just stay safe first'."

He continued: "What you're supposed to do is to wait at a place where nothing's going to fall on your head. I chose the archway between my living room and kitchen because the wall there is more solid. And if the house collapsed, I'd be near my kitchen where there's food and water."

He only realised the severity of the quake when he saw his neighbour looking pale. 

"If even the Taiwanese are freaking out, you know this is not normal," he said. 

The damages to their home, while "not super bad", were "not pretty".

The most heartbreaking damage was to Andie's his iMac, which "can still be turned on but the screen is completely smashed".

"I'm so upset," he lamented. "My whole screen... [the iMac] smacked down on the table and I assumed it would be fine 'cos it wasn't that big of a fall. But when I recovered it, I realised the screen was all shattered. I’ll have to replace the whole computer."

Not only that. Kate's Star Awards trophy was chipped and Andie lost several crystals on his Asian Televisions Awards trophy.

Well, perhaps Andie, who's nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes at this year's Star Awards, can bring a trophy back later this month to replace the broken one?

"Yah! Maybe this is a sign," he laughed. 

Photos: Kate Pang/Instagram, Andie Chen/Instagram

Catch Andie in Born To Shine on mewatch or in the video below: