Hopefully this will be therapeutic writing although I am calming down slightly. Even considered sleeping in the bedroom again tonight, but we’ll see how I feel as night falls with howling winds and fierce rain slashing the windows.
I was blissfully sleeping, tired after an interesting week at work and another funny Zumba class. In fact I was planning to write a post about zumba, how if you look at zumba videos you so do not see what it actually looks like. At least in my class it is 30 or so women of all shapes and sizes randomly doing zumba movements in all directions, sometimes slightly synchronized to either the music or each other, never both at the same time.
I woke up because a loud WHAM hit the house and I thought “Goodness where did that wind come from?!” Then the house started making all this noise and there was another low unspecifiable noise too and everything was suddenly moving, rolling. So within the next second it hit me “Earthquake, SH*T!!!” I jumped out of bed without any of the usual stiffness or sleepiness, and grabbing, without realizing it, the stuffed animal I use as an extra pillow, I ran through the hallway to the kitchen thinking “Must get OUT”. It was like running on the sinking Titanic. In the kitchen I realized I should get in a doorway but both doorways there were too close to glass for my liking and so I ran (tremor again just now) on to the living room where I realized the main door is also out of glass. So I picked up my new coffee table throwing off the books on it and I sort of scrambled underneath it. This was all in just 3 seconds or so since getting out of bed. It felt as if the house was being picked up by a giant and given a good long shake in all directions and for my eyes flashed not my life but scenes of other places where a major earthquake had hit. I was swearing, fully panicking, trying to think what to do and just being very scared. The house and/or earth groaned and I prayed this was not THE big earthquake that as I mentioned before should hit the Westcoast any time now and that will wipe out every living thing there and will probably do lots of damage NZ wide. I heard things fall down too and what I thought was shattering of glass which made me more scared still. “Things are breaking, this is bad bad bad”. When the shaking got slightly less and I slowly realized the house would most likely not collapse just yet, I thought “Tsunami”. And then I more or less could only think “F*CK”.
When the worst shaking stopped after what seemed minutes but were apparently “only” 40 seconds, I got out from underneath the (tiny) table, suddenly noticed my stuffed friend in my arms, ran to get a coat, jumped into sneakers and got out of the house. I was shaking and it felt as if the earth was still unstable too. I noticed everyone had lights on in the street and from the mall came security people running for dear life. But I didn’t see anyone else on the street, which surprised me, and it was cold, so I peered into Mona’s bedroom window and saw her vaguely sitting up in bed so I figured she was fine and I went back inside, turned on the light and the radio. The radio was obviously still unaware of this and had some obscure interview going on. I got onto the internet and decided to first write on my blog that I was still ok. Then I tried to call Thomas and my parents, mostly because I wanted to hear a familiar and loved voice. I had the feeling things were constantly trembling and soon a large aftershock hit and I ran outside again.
Well after that I have chronicled all in my previous posts already so I won’t go into more detail about what followed.
I have experienced at least 3 fairly large earthquakes before this. The first was in the NL in the 90’s and although it woke up most of the NL I slept through it. My mom described it as a large truck driving through the street. The second was in Vancouver, 2001? Which was actually in Seattle and did quite some damage there. I was staying with friends in Van and we were just getting ready to visit a historical site. I was in the bathroom and when I got out I found the whole family huddled together looking white and whispering “earthquake”. For some reason because I had been walking when it hit I didn’t notice it but my friends were very frightened. The third was only last year I think in Freiburg when I woke up because I was being rolled out of bed and the whole house creaked as if it were slowly being torn apart. That was the first time I realized “hmm, probably an earthquake”. All these quakes were sort of fun. So you’ve experienced an earthquake, the incredible force of nature actually woke you up and you have something to talk about.
This was truly horrifying. I didn’t consciously think I was going to die, but that was probably only because I could not consciously think from fear.
Suddenly you can’t trust on very basic truths anymore, such as that your house is solid and protecting. During the shaking the house seemed made of cardboard. It was dark so I didn’t see anything but I imagined the walls swaying like the cards when you’re trying to build a card house.
We’ve had over 60 after quakes now and they will probably continue for months! It has been interesting to see the graphs (worldwide too! Amazing how in Europe the quake was also very clearly recorded), especially because you can sort of pinpoint them down. “That one was while I was gardening, that was in the shower, that one just 10 minutes ago”. Geologists are excited because this unearthed a fault line they didn’t know, and many more too that have been activated by it. Being a natural scientist, you cannot help yourself but be intrigued and interested.
And it is so weird that most of these “light” after quakes are on their own already so much worse than I’d ever experienced before. And how unnerving it is to be constantly reminded of active geology. In the supermarket this morning I noticed everyone looks weary, red rimmed and puffed eyes. No one slept much. There was a family interviewed on the radio who live practically on the epicenter and they spend the night under the dining table, parents and all 8 children, all terrified.
Going to the supermarket wasn’t nice either. I had to take a deep breath before I dared to enter. It was really busy and all bottled water was sold out, but luckily no frantic pushing and getting as much as possible. Most people were just doing normal weekend shopping plus some extra supplies, and it was just more busy because not all supermarkets are open. I was scared the whole time I was inside because I didn’t want to get caught there.
I’m still scared, it is really hard to relax. I have to force myself to eat something because I am too nervous to feel hungry. I did cook al veges I bought yesterday though because I realized that if we lose power I can’t eat them uncooked. At least now they’re transformed into an edible casserole that I can eat cold if need be. It’s pretty good too but I can’t enjoy it.
And you try to get on with normality but more cautious. I did not leave my cooking unattended for even a second. I have put everything that can fall down and break somewhere safe. I have 10 liters of clean water (we have to boil all tap water 3 minutes now because it may be contaminated), my bicycle helmet lies next to my bed. I vacuumed and ran to the door when a large tremor hit again. I have come accustomed to them in the sense that I wait 2 seconds to see if it’s large enough to start running.
I hope I will never have to experience something like this again. I have never been so scared, and never been scared for so long.
I was blissfully sleeping, tired after an interesting week at work and another funny Zumba class. In fact I was planning to write a post about zumba, how if you look at zumba videos you so do not see what it actually looks like. At least in my class it is 30 or so women of all shapes and sizes randomly doing zumba movements in all directions, sometimes slightly synchronized to either the music or each other, never both at the same time.
I woke up because a loud WHAM hit the house and I thought “Goodness where did that wind come from?!” Then the house started making all this noise and there was another low unspecifiable noise too and everything was suddenly moving, rolling. So within the next second it hit me “Earthquake, SH*T!!!” I jumped out of bed without any of the usual stiffness or sleepiness, and grabbing, without realizing it, the stuffed animal I use as an extra pillow, I ran through the hallway to the kitchen thinking “Must get OUT”. It was like running on the sinking Titanic. In the kitchen I realized I should get in a doorway but both doorways there were too close to glass for my liking and so I ran (tremor again just now) on to the living room where I realized the main door is also out of glass. So I picked up my new coffee table throwing off the books on it and I sort of scrambled underneath it. This was all in just 3 seconds or so since getting out of bed. It felt as if the house was being picked up by a giant and given a good long shake in all directions and for my eyes flashed not my life but scenes of other places where a major earthquake had hit. I was swearing, fully panicking, trying to think what to do and just being very scared. The house and/or earth groaned and I prayed this was not THE big earthquake that as I mentioned before should hit the Westcoast any time now and that will wipe out every living thing there and will probably do lots of damage NZ wide. I heard things fall down too and what I thought was shattering of glass which made me more scared still. “Things are breaking, this is bad bad bad”. When the shaking got slightly less and I slowly realized the house would most likely not collapse just yet, I thought “Tsunami”. And then I more or less could only think “F*CK”.
When the worst shaking stopped after what seemed minutes but were apparently “only” 40 seconds, I got out from underneath the (tiny) table, suddenly noticed my stuffed friend in my arms, ran to get a coat, jumped into sneakers and got out of the house. I was shaking and it felt as if the earth was still unstable too. I noticed everyone had lights on in the street and from the mall came security people running for dear life. But I didn’t see anyone else on the street, which surprised me, and it was cold, so I peered into Mona’s bedroom window and saw her vaguely sitting up in bed so I figured she was fine and I went back inside, turned on the light and the radio. The radio was obviously still unaware of this and had some obscure interview going on. I got onto the internet and decided to first write on my blog that I was still ok. Then I tried to call Thomas and my parents, mostly because I wanted to hear a familiar and loved voice. I had the feeling things were constantly trembling and soon a large aftershock hit and I ran outside again.
Well after that I have chronicled all in my previous posts already so I won’t go into more detail about what followed.
I have experienced at least 3 fairly large earthquakes before this. The first was in the NL in the 90’s and although it woke up most of the NL I slept through it. My mom described it as a large truck driving through the street. The second was in Vancouver, 2001? Which was actually in Seattle and did quite some damage there. I was staying with friends in Van and we were just getting ready to visit a historical site. I was in the bathroom and when I got out I found the whole family huddled together looking white and whispering “earthquake”. For some reason because I had been walking when it hit I didn’t notice it but my friends were very frightened. The third was only last year I think in Freiburg when I woke up because I was being rolled out of bed and the whole house creaked as if it were slowly being torn apart. That was the first time I realized “hmm, probably an earthquake”. All these quakes were sort of fun. So you’ve experienced an earthquake, the incredible force of nature actually woke you up and you have something to talk about.
This was truly horrifying. I didn’t consciously think I was going to die, but that was probably only because I could not consciously think from fear.
Suddenly you can’t trust on very basic truths anymore, such as that your house is solid and protecting. During the shaking the house seemed made of cardboard. It was dark so I didn’t see anything but I imagined the walls swaying like the cards when you’re trying to build a card house.
We’ve had over 60 after quakes now and they will probably continue for months! It has been interesting to see the graphs (worldwide too! Amazing how in Europe the quake was also very clearly recorded), especially because you can sort of pinpoint them down. “That one was while I was gardening, that was in the shower, that one just 10 minutes ago”. Geologists are excited because this unearthed a fault line they didn’t know, and many more too that have been activated by it. Being a natural scientist, you cannot help yourself but be intrigued and interested.
And it is so weird that most of these “light” after quakes are on their own already so much worse than I’d ever experienced before. And how unnerving it is to be constantly reminded of active geology. In the supermarket this morning I noticed everyone looks weary, red rimmed and puffed eyes. No one slept much. There was a family interviewed on the radio who live practically on the epicenter and they spend the night under the dining table, parents and all 8 children, all terrified.
Going to the supermarket wasn’t nice either. I had to take a deep breath before I dared to enter. It was really busy and all bottled water was sold out, but luckily no frantic pushing and getting as much as possible. Most people were just doing normal weekend shopping plus some extra supplies, and it was just more busy because not all supermarkets are open. I was scared the whole time I was inside because I didn’t want to get caught there.
I’m still scared, it is really hard to relax. I have to force myself to eat something because I am too nervous to feel hungry. I did cook al veges I bought yesterday though because I realized that if we lose power I can’t eat them uncooked. At least now they’re transformed into an edible casserole that I can eat cold if need be. It’s pretty good too but I can’t enjoy it.
And you try to get on with normality but more cautious. I did not leave my cooking unattended for even a second. I have put everything that can fall down and break somewhere safe. I have 10 liters of clean water (we have to boil all tap water 3 minutes now because it may be contaminated), my bicycle helmet lies next to my bed. I vacuumed and ran to the door when a large tremor hit again. I have come accustomed to them in the sense that I wait 2 seconds to see if it’s large enough to start running.
I hope I will never have to experience something like this again. I have never been so scared, and never been scared for so long.
