Earthquake 8,3

Words to know: In Chile there seems to be different names for the degree of strength an earthquake has: (Note: they all translate into “earthquake” in English.)  1. temblor-  a little baby earthquake. One that doesn’t last long, usually only seconds. Most of the time you don’t really feel them 2. sismo- earthquake, one that doesn’t cause daño   (damage) to the area, but it is felt normally by people 3. terremoto- an earthquake that is really strong, and there is damage to the effected area. (Here’s an article about it in Spanish)

I experienced my first real earthquake last night. I am ok. Everything is fine. I am just taking a break from my Argentina post (That I have yet to publish) to write about this. It started a little before 8P.M last night. At first I felt a little tremor, like any other “temblor” ( we would call that a little baby earthquake in English) that has occurred in Santiago this past year. I first thought whoa that’s strong, and I wasn’t worried because the ones I have felt have only lasted 15-30 seconds at most. But then.. the trembling didn’t stop. I got a little worried/nervous/scared. The women I live with told me to come with her to stand in the doorway of the main door into the apartment. (Before this I was just sitting on my bed with a blank mind not knowing what to do). We stood there, my landlady holding her dog. Our neighbor came to stand in her door way too. Others were leaving to go outside.

As we were standing in the door way, the building kept shaking. It felt like forever! I didn’t know what to think. Finally, the shaking slowed down and stopped. (I read somewhere it was 5 minutes long… You don’t think about time when you’re scared) We stayed in the doorway for a few minutes more talking to our neighbor, and making sure the sismo was really over. 

We went back in and my landlady turned on the T.V. to see the news. The first reports from U de Chile:Centro sismológico nacional (University of Chile: National seismological center) said that it was a 7,4, and the epicenter was about 30 miles west of Illapel, Chile (about 180 miles away from Santigo).  As I checked out the map of where Illapel was I couldn’t believe that it was that far away and felt so strong here in Santiago. (At that moment I was thinking “I definitely don’t want to feel anything bigger than that).  

Little did I know they would end up rerating it to an 8,3 later in the night. They evacuated the coast line of all of the country. Over 1 million people moved inland. As far as I know now, no one has died due to a tsunami or the huge waves that crashed into the shore. (Compared to the 500 people that died in the 2010 earthquake due to the tsunami that resulted after.) Chile really stepped up their safety plans for evacuations, or so I have been reading ever since 2010.

All through last night I kept feeling the aftershock earthquakes (is this the right term?). One time, I woke up at 1 am to some more trembling. I thought it was my alarm on my phone vibrating at first telling me it was 6am (I had to run to the PDI and the Registro civil to get papers for my visa this morning), but it was just another temblor. And still today there have been more earthquakes around the area of the 8,3 one. I haven’t felt any in Santiago, but I don’t know how normal this is to have this many more earthquakes after a big one.

After experiencing this earthquake, I have gained more respect for Mother Nature and our world. This earthquake has shown me that we are only visitors on this planet, and can never really be certain when/where different natural disasters can occur. Yes, we have technology to help predict the oncoming of nature’s different phenomena, but in the end we can never truly know what is going to happen until it happens.

My hearts go out to all of those affected by the earthquake and to the 10 people who have lost their lives. I hope the death toll stops there.

With love from Santiago,

Leslie