Fotografo de Bodas, Santiago

February 27, 2010

Holy shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced. And we’re on the ground floor in a house — people up higher in tall buildings got rocked way more than we did.

I’m posting to let everyone know that we are ok. Thank you for all the concerned emails. Our whole family is good and I’ve heard from most of my friends who are also good.

So here’s what went down. I’ve been averaging about 3-4 hours of sleep a night this week. This morning we were supposed to have a session at 7:30am when the sun came up! So I decided to do something unthinkably out of character, and go to bed before midnight. Of course, that means that I woke up around 2:30am feeling like I had just taken a nap and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I was awake for the whole thing.

At first, I thought it was just a tremor. Honestly, up until this point, I’ve slept through almost all of the tremors that have been strong enough to be felt. But the tremor felt strong so I started trying to wake up Seba.

“Seba, Seba…Seba, Seba…Seba!”

He wasn’t waking up, and all of a sudden the earthquake was so strong that the house was completely rocking and I heard cement and glass smashing to the ground. That was when I started to realize it wasn’t a tremor.

“Seba!!! ES UNO GRANDE!!!” or, “Seba!!! IT’S A BIG ONE!!!”

At that point we both got out of bed to try and go out into the patio so the house wouldn’t collapse on our heads. The fan had fallen over though and the cord was blocking the door, along with a piece of furniture that had shifted. Standing there, I felt like there was an ocean moving under the Earth, I could feel the ground move me as if I were riding a wave. We couldn’t get out the door so Seba shouted at me to get under a doorframe. Me, being the prepared little Gringa that I am, had just happened to read an Earthquake survival guide after Haiti. In it, it said that almost all the people who had been found alive were crouched next to large pieces of furniture, like the bed or a dresser, because that way when the ceiling falls, it hits the furniture and then a little triangle pocket of space is created next to it. So yelled back, “No! Remember the guide?”

Then it stopped. And Seba, being the prepared little Chilean that he is, found his flashlight, with batteries in it and everything, and turned it on right away. We ran to Seba’s parents room, and the Earth was still moving, but now it was like surfing a much smaller wave. Actually, I just felt really drunk, like I was about to fall over.

His parents were fine, just shaken. Seba’s Mom and I sat on the bed, while Seba and his Dad went upstairs to check on Tia Pacha, who lives with us. They walked away with the flashlight, leaving us in complete darkness, because at this point, the entire city of Santiago was without power. We could hear their feet crunching over broken glass through the kitchen and the living room, and at that moment, I got really scared. Up until that point pure adrenaline had kicked in and I’d felt very little fear. But sitting there alone in the dark and silence — that was terrifying.

The silence lasted for maybe two minutes, but I realized how odd of a sound that was. Santiago is never completely silent, there are always cars driving by, honking, busses passing, drunk people on the streets. The two minutes without those comforting noises felt like forever. And then one ambulance’s cries broke the silence. And then another, and another. We could hear cars moving again and sirens, a lot of sirens.

Seba and his Dad came back. We sat there with his parents a little while longer and then decided to try and go back to sleep. Laying there, aftershocks kept coming and some of them felt pretty big, and lasted quite a while. About two hours (or maybe less?) after the quake hit, the power came back on. Since we still weren’t sleeping, we got back up to go see if the news was on. MAD kudos to TVN. All the other channels were dead, but they had a newsgirl who looked like she had just rolled out of bed, no makeup on, wearing a crooked shirt, broadcasting the news as it came in. At first it was reassuring. One dead. Two dead. Five dead. We didn’t think it was that bad. They didn’t have their full video teams on the street and everything was still dark in most places, but eventually images started coming in — a church entirely caved in, a highway that fell. Thank goodness this happened at night and that people weren’t out on the streets driving. The number of casualties would have been far higher.

On CNN they say that the Earthquake was an 8.8 and that 122 people are dead. I hope that number doesn’t get much higher.

Aside from mad kudos to TVN, mad kudos to the entire country of Chile! Santiago has been in chaos, but at least it’s been a relatively organized chaos. The power came back on quickly. President Bachelet was up and in the main offices of the earthquake experts by the time the news was broadcasting, and less than three hours after the quake hit, she was in a meeting with her disaster relief team. Roads are now safe(r) to transit. I feel like we’re in good hands here.

122 Comments

Subscribe to comment feed

Facebook comments:

7 Trackbacks

115 Comments

My heart goes out to those suffering in the south as well.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:09 pm

Reply
It was terrifying! I didn't notice how long it lasted but i couldn't believe how strong it was.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:10 pm

Reply
I am glad too. I feel very fortunate.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:11 pm

Reply
Thank you so much for your thoughts. Next time don't wait for an earthquake to comment

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:13 pm

Reply
Sorry, my skype is not working well right now.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:14 pm

Reply
Thank you so much for your prayers.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:14 pm

Reply
It was scary but we are totally fine.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:15 pm

Reply
I hate hearing the news because the death toll just keeps getting higher and higher

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:16 pm

Reply
You are lucky. It's Tuesday and we just got relatively normal cell phones usage back.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:17 pm

Reply
Electricity seems to be random because some comunas are just getting it back now.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:18 pm

Reply
Gracias!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:19 pm

Reply
Thank you!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:19 pm

Reply
Wow, your best friend probably has it way worst than we do.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:20 pm

Reply
Me too!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:20 pm

Reply
Honestly, who has time to react and choose a plan anyways.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:22 pm

Reply
My poor mom was surprisingly calm, but very relieved to heard from us.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:23 pm

Reply
Thank you Christine.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:24 pm

Reply
Al parecer este fue mas fuerte que el del 85, o mas largo. De todas formas fue bastante aterrador.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:26 pm

Reply
Thank you aunt Judy!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:26 pm

Reply
Muchas gracias!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:26 pm

Reply
We appreciate it!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:27 pm

Reply
It pretty scary to be in an earthquake, you have absolutely no control over anything. Thanks for your concern.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:29 pm

Reply
Thank you!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:29 pm

Reply
This is definitely a time when i feel extremely fortunate to be living in Chile.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:30 pm

Reply
Definitely no!

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:33 pm

Reply
Good to heard from you Barbara. Don't worry, in Santiago things are not so bad.

Comment by kyleracine — March 2, 2010 @ 9:35 pm

Reply
So glad you were able to get through. That must have been torture not knowing

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 4:53 am

Reply
Thanks Nick, we're good!

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 4:54 am

Reply
It was pretty crazy. We are very lucky.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 4:55 am

Reply
We will! Thanks, Erin

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 4:56 am

Reply
Haha, PastaQueen, I like people who can make me laugh in the face of tragedy.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 4:58 am

Reply
And I thought 2010 would be a calmer year!

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 4:59 am

Reply
We are so lucky!

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 4:59 am

Reply
We are ok and so is everyone we know!

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:00 am

Reply
It was definitely something I will never forget.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:02 am

Reply
Chile has been great so far, time will tell how they do rebuilding.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:03 am

Reply
Haha, I think I have 9 lives but even so that would mean that i have already used up 3!

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:05 am

Reply
That must have been so scary! I am really really happy that Felipe's whole family is OK.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:08 am

Reply
My heart goes out to those suffering in the south as well.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:09 am

Reply
It was terrifying! I didn't notice how long it lasted but i couldn't believe how strong it was.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:10 am

Reply
I am glad too. I feel very fortunate.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:11 am

Reply
Thank you so much for your thoughts. Next time don't wait for an earthquake to comment

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:13 am

Reply
Sorry, my skype is not working well right now.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:14 am

Reply
Thank you so much for your prayers.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:14 am

Reply
It was scary but we are totally fine.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:15 am

Reply
I hate hearing the news because the death toll just keeps getting higher and higher

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:16 am

Reply
You are lucky. It's Tuesday and we just got relatively normal cell phones usage back.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:17 am

Reply
Electricity seems to be random because some comunas are just getting it back now.

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:18 am

Reply
Gracias!

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:19 am

Reply
Thank you!

Comment by kyleracine — March 3, 2010 @ 5:19 am

Reply