"Look!" Suddenly someone shouted in surprise, pointing towards the horizon.
Many followed his pointing finger. It turned out that a temple on a distant mountain had collapsed with a thunderous bang, sending a plume of dust and gravel rolling down the mountain.
The locals were terrified retrospectively! Thankfully, they had decided to not stay in their homes and had escaped to this place! Otherwise, they would have ended up crushed under the falling debris!
The townsfolk too were horrified. They looked at the buildings not far off, their roof tiles tumbling off one by one. The timely warning from the soldiers had saved them, or they would have been caught in the havoc, if not dead, severely injured.
The earthquake lasted a long time, almost half an hour, before the ground finally ceased to shake.