From my apartment here in Da’an throughout the new years holiday I had been hearing now and then some type of firecrackers going off - it sounds like 100s going off at one time. I could tell they must be quite powerful, but since they never exploded nearby I didn’t actually realize just HOW powerful they were.
It is my understanding that firecrackers are illegal but apparently the law isn’t enforced. I always wondered where the explosions were happening and who was doing it. I asked a few local friends, but no one seemed to know anything about it.
Unfortunately I found out first hand a couple of days ago.
I was walking on one of the main streets on the way to Taipei 101. A loud explosion went off right behind me. It was so loud at first I thought it was a bomb, it felt like the ground shook and I literally jumped in fright. I can’t have been more than 9 meters away - it was exactly the same kind of firecracker chain, 100s going off at once, but I was right there as it happened. Afterwards, I felt pretty shaken up and couldn’t hear anything clearly - everything was muffled, as if I had been temporarily defeaned by the sound.
I looked behind me and saw three guys laughing and congratulating each other - I’m guessing these are the guys who did it. The air was so full of smoke it looked like the area was covered in fog. I was very surprised some apparently random individuals could get away with doing this on a public street. There were many other people on the street at the time as well.
I noticed soon afterwards a loud sirenlike sound in my head - tinnitus induced from the blast sound, apparently. It’s still there now and has not gone away since this happened. I was so close, I’m concerned about hearing damage. I had a friend in the past who ended up with permanent tinnitus just as the result of brief exposure to one extremely loud sound.
Has anyone else here experienced something similar, and and if so, did you eventually recover normal hearing? Did the tinnitus ever go away?
What kind of firecrackers are these that go off in a chain of hundreds and why are people setting these off on public roads? Surely they must be aware that they could potentially injure people in the area?
It occurs to me it may be a good idea to wear earplugs when going out over the new years holiday here, to protect one’s hearing in case you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.