A Scary Last Week of July

The start of the new week had been quite eventful - early celebration of Mom's birthday on Monday, a lazy Tuesday ensued where we just stayed home and rested. But then early morning (8:43 am) yesterday came the 7+ magnitude earthquake that shook not only the grounds and everything around but also everyone's core...

Several strong aftershocks were felt during the day and even last night. I can only imagine that like us, many have been sleepless and have been staying vigilant in the last 24 hours. The danger is not yet over and fear still abound.

I was in front of my computer when the shake occurred and I heard myself saying "OMG, OMG" while holding onto the table. I stood up, walked out of the room and into the kitchen where I saw mugs and everything else tumbling down from the cabinets. So I ran outside. I didn't know how many seconds it was but it felt a long while. My head felt it was going to explode any minute. Then the husband called asking if I was okay. I am... thankfully. The yard had a long crack, stretching from where the storage (bodega) is towards the right side of the property.

When the shake got quiet, I came back inside the house. The kitchen was quite a mess. Came into the little office and noticed the husband's other phone on the rug carpet, the tablet, the book I was reading, my notebook and others on the floor. The laptop almost fell from its table. That's how strong it was.

Somewhere down the road, the husband was inside my father's dump truck which they were loading with potatoes when the quake happened. He thought it was only a strong wind but he noticed the trees swaying and so as the other plants so he jumped out. It's just good that he didn't panic and was able to place a bigger rock in the front wheels to hold the truck from moving on its own because it was parked on a sloped ground. We never know, the handbrake may fail, thankfully it didn't.

Minutes after the shake, news of this and that surfaced in the web and was forwarded to me by my nephews and nieces who were quite fast at obtaining information from Facebook. It's utterly scary and brought back unpleasant memories of the July 1990 killer quake which wrecked havoc to our region. I was 10 at that time but still remember how it had been...

My heart goes to the relatives of those who have perished due to the quake and those whose properties and livelihood have been damaged. I pray for everyone's safety and that the shake will be no more.