Shaken and Stirred

Waking up to the 5^th largest earthquake in recent history is a frightening experience. First you are awoken, but like turning on an old TV, things aren’t super clear. Then, BAM, your brain realizes something is wrong. Buildings aren’t supposed to feel like sailboats on the open sea. Adrenaline firing, eyes dilated, I ran to the patio on Nicolas’s 4^th floor apartment and gazed out. I am not sure why my first reaction was to want to see outside (maybe to confirm we weren´t under attack!), but as home security alarms starting going off and glass started shattering, my thoughts turned to Nico and Pilar’s young children. I ran to their room and Nico was getting Elisa out of bed and Pilar had their newborn with her in bed. 90 seconds is a long time under these particular circumstances. I don’t remember talking to Nico as we stood under the doorframe, as we were taught as kids. It was loud and the shaking was certainly intense, so when it finally stopped, all felt very still… and that’s when we looked at each other and said holy sh*&!

Thanks to all the people that sent their thoughts my way. I am sure most of you knew much more about the situation than we did, as electricity and phones were cut off. In fact, we had no idea just how destructive the quake had been until much later on Saturday afternoon as electricity came back and we started to see images around the country. For us, plates had broken, glasses shattered, and superficial cracks in the paint ran along the walls, but we were fine. In fact, with no way to communicate and no way of getting much news other than speculation on the radio, I went for a bike ride. Finally, later in the day, I was able to get a call off to my parents who were able to spread the word that I was OK…

And just as quickly as we lost power, we got it back. I was Skyping and responding to the deluge of emails from friends and family. Amazing really. With the exception of the aftershocks happening pretty frequently, we are back to normal. However, Chile as a whole faces a longer road to recovery and many have suffered great losses. I have to admit that I am amazed that the casualty numbers weren’t much higher. It really speaks to Chile’s preparedness for this kind of event. Certainly houses and bridges collapsed, but for the most part, structures held strong and people were able to escape damaged buildings and the oncoming tsunami without harm.

So that’s it. I will keep sending updates, but for me it’s back work tomorrow... If only we could harness the power from an earthquake for electricity!

Much love.