A Monterey native was in Thailand Friday when a magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocked Southeast Asia, killing at least 150 people.
Lexi Rohrer has been living in Bangkok since August and was at home on the 12th floor of her condo building when the shaking began.
"I was sitting at my dining room counter and all of a sudden I started feeling a little bit dizzy," she said. "After I started feeling dizzy, I felt the building shake a bit more and I thought, 'Oh, OK, this is definitely an earthquake.' Growing up in California, pretty low buildings most the time, you're trained to get under the table, so I got under the table and I start seeing the sliding glass door that separates my kitchen from the living room sliding back and forth. I got really nervous that it was going to shatter."
Rohrer said she jumped out from underneath the table and bolted for her front door.
"No phone, no shoes, nothing," she said. "As I was going down the 12 flights of stairs to the floor, other people were coming down as well. Everyone evacuated onto the street. It was very chaotic."
Rohrer said she lives in a small residential area, just south of one neighborhood where a large building collapsed.
"I think that some people actually as they were coming down from their condo saw that building collapse," she said. "That definitely caused a lot of fear and confusion as we got out onto the street."
Rohrer counted herself lucky, saying the scene in central Bangkok was "probably a lot scarier to be in."
"Downtown I had friends that were stuck among high-rise buildings, couldn't get away from them," she said. "It's just such a dense city."
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Thanks to a Thai friend, Rohrer safely made it out of the city and to the countryside, where she will stay for the time being.
"I definitely think I'm one of the lucky ones," she said.
