What an odd and surreal (may I use that word surreal?) 24 hours it has been. Well, not even 24 hours yet. For those interested, here’s the play-by-play from the eyes of yours truly:
Around 3:30 a.m. I sat up in bed feeling what I’ve come to know as small tremors. We feel them here from time to time as the earth settles and shifts. It’s usually a fairly subtle shift that lasts no more than a few seconds. Wow, I thought, strong tremors tonight. As the seconds went on, instead of fading away the movement seemed to be only getting stronger and I heard things in my 9th floor apartment start to rattle. In the blink of an eye the rattling turned to shaking and strong movement – this was the real deal! I was in a movie! I was in an earthquake!
I jumped out of bed and hopped into the nearest doorway, which from what I remembered from movies was the correct thing to do. That felt rather exposed, though, and the door was swinging back and forth, so I decided on Plan B — the bathtub. Now on second thought, that was a terrible idea because if there had been falling tile (which there wasn’t) I would have been in bad shape. It was all those years of Oklahoma tornado drills; the tub just seemed right.
Anyhow.
It only lasted for a couple of minutes, but that was plenty. Here’s the idea: imagine you’re holding a hotdog vertically from the bottom (minus the bun). You start whipping the hotdog around. That’s my building. I was on the 9th floor of this hotdog, so the movement that I was getting was pretty strong compared to what it felt like down below, although those folks were also getting their share of action.
I remember hearing the water sloshing around in the toilet like the wave pool at a water park. I don’t know why I remember that so distinctly, but I do.
Back to my story. So I waited for a while, then hopped out of the tub and tipy-toed around, taking a peek out the window. Wow. I have a great view from my balcony, but I had never seen one like this before. Pitch black (all power was out, of course) yet a giant full moon was so bright that I initially mistook it for some sort of spot light. It was quiet, as if the whole country was holding it’s breath. Weird.
Very soon after I got a call from some wonderful friends who live quite close to me, and also on a 9th floor. We stayed in touch and after the initial aftershocks subsided I headed downstairs to linger outside with a hodge podge of neighbors dressed in everything from pajamas to swim trunks to jogging suits to silver sparkle high heels (interesting to see what people choose to throw on at 4 in the morning, but I digress…)
I ended up going with my friends to wait out the night (morning) in the apartment of our church’s pastor (also happens to be the family/family-in-law of said friends). Their place is on the third floor of a four-story building. So remember my hotdog analogy? It’s like I went to wait it out in a little smokie. Much better.
So, we sat in candle light, ate peanut butter, watched a little Gilmore Girls, and chatted until about 7 a.m. At this point, exhaustion was setting in. We napped for a couple of hours as the sun came up, then “woke up” (is it still called waking up when you’re exhausted and only really been cat napping?) and watched some TV coverage, as the power was back on at this point. It’s interesting because up until then all I knew was what I had experienced and the very little I had seen. To see images, though, from some of the heavily damaged areas (no doubt the images many of you are seeing on the news stations) was quite eye-opening. This was a big deal.
I arrived back to my apartment late morning and cleaned up quite a bit of broken glass in the kitchen, as falling dishes and glass canisters from high shelves had left quite a mess. I showered (makes everything SO much better), ate a good breakfast, and got online to start updating all of you!
I read on the BBC that this quake (8.8!) was much stronger than the one in Haiti, yet our casualty rates are incredibly lower thanks to the development and preparedness of this country. I’m thankful and humbled that I was in a place that, although still scary, was safe and intact. I know that with the same quake – just different circumstances – the outcome could have been very different. And even here in Chile, lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed and some are still unaccounted for. There is much to be seen in the days to come and much work to be done. Many of you out there have sent messages asking about ways to help – at this point, I know nothing. I’ll keep you updated, though, as I learn more and see how we might partner together.
So tonight I’m back in my place, which is still moving pretty constantly. I really do feel like I’m sitting in a houseboat with the constant rocking. Apparently this is normal as the building settles back down, but all I can say is don’t get up to fast! One sudden movement and I’m stumbling around here dizzy as a loon (how dizzy IS a loon?)
All jokes aside, thanks for your prayers, support and words of encouragement. I feel like I’ve been taken care of on every side — so many of you in the states who are watching and praying, awesome folks here who were calling me first thing after the quake… thanks to all of you for being part of that surrounding! You’re like a warm fuzzy blanket on a cold, cold day…
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Here are a few pics from my balcony that I’ve taken in the last month or two (just to give you an idea of what things look like from where I’m sitting)
