Early to bed
The plan was actually to take the bus early Saturday morning to a national park near Santiago (Cajon del Maipo) in order to sort of take a break from the whole week of sightseeing in the city before leaving Sunday for Valparaiso, one of the most beautiful cities of Chili, which is situated on a hill. Thus, on time to bed because at 6:00 we had to get up. Our bus to the park leaves always at 7:30.
Awakened out of bed
Until about 3:30 we both were shaken awake: the whole house shook heavily, there was some noise from the clapping window and sliding furniture, but further the first thing that comes to mind in such a situation: what now....? Until a moment later you realize: earthquake.... "oh well, that happens here a lot, therefore no panic, I don't get out of bed for that" feeling.
But the shaking became heavier and changed into violent shocks. The first glass breaks, you hear everywhere things falling and breaking and Irma began then a bit to worry over it. Then you decide that it is best for both of you to go down the swinging stairs barefoot and (luckily) in your pajama bottoms and on the way you notice another falling vase and pieces of glass on the floor; you push a crying and half naked very pregnant lady who is in panic to help her out of the student house, where she is also staying, to go to the terrace and then the electricity goes out. So apocalyptic conditions.
A minute later the shaking stops and you hear everywhere car alarms, sirens, screeching and when the first flashlights and candles are retrieved from upstairs, you see nothing in front of you because the whole yard is bathed in dust. There you stand, drowsy but very alert, barefoot in a dust cloud in a yard in Santiago, Chili. Almost everyone around you is drunk because it is Friday night, summer vacation, warm, the weekend and you are staying in a student house. Some of them had not yet gone to sleep and came running up shaky, sweating, smelling like a mix of rum and cigarettes in total panic, with the words "no panic", "no pasa nada, tranquilo" (Spanish for "nothing happens", "quiet". I could manage a bit of saliva but still I was a little nervous, but we were totally not in panic....we just stood there like normal but feeling sleepy and waiting till we again .......(sorry a translation difficulty for a phrase) and realized that if the house could withstand a three minute earthquake of 8.8, we probably would do that also.
Replica
But then came the "replicas" as the people hear call the aftershocks. Not 5 minutes later the earth trembled again, although this time it is not comparable to the shaking of 3:30 a.m.
Because we were standing in the yard barefoot and with not many clothes on, we decided to go back to our room on the third floor of the building to get a t-shit and shoes on and to get our flashlights.. It is quite clear that no one is going to go back to sleep. Maria, the housekeeper (a German and one of the few sober residents) wanted to first thoroughly inspect the house for damage and then after that let everyone back to their rooms.
We walked carefully up the stairs, brushing away dust and pieces of chalk that came down from the walls and on first floor up we came across real damage in the kitchen. The stove is moved a meter and the cabinet with plates was open, with half of the contents broken on the ground.
Normally our visit of a few days prior to the winery of Concha y Toro would not have made this blog. It was actually much too expensive relative to the value of the tour. The two gifts (glasses with the name of the business) we, however, liked and set them in full view on the cabinet in our room, on the highest shelf, so they were in good view. That was clearly done without counting on an earthquake.
The glasses will in more ways than one be a nice memory of Chili and Irma has called me crazy because I will absolutely take the second glass home.
Okay, the aftershocks. After we had put on a few more clothes and after about three hours or so outside putting up with overly tired, overly worried drunk Spaniards and Chileans, we went back inside. We drug a mattress a level lower so that the way to get out was shorter in the event of aftershocks. Not a half hour later that happened again. A heavy aftershock and again storming outside. And again standing among those in panic.
The aftershocks continued the entire night and days after. Until now there have been more than 70 aftershocks registered but they are mostly short,light shocks, some so light that you feel them if you are sitting or laying or because you see circles appearing in your glass of water.
The Following Day
The night was further quiet and about 7:00 we decided to go back to bed. In the meantime, the electricity came on again and we were successful letting our family know that we were okay.
A few hours later, around midday, we got up and began with cleaning up the trash and damage in the house. Luckily it seemed not so bad because in an hour the two of us had straightened up book shelves and we got the kitchen in order and had vacuumed the whole house.
After that we walked in the yard of our house and through the city to see what the damage was.
Like a miracle, the Virgin Mary (or better said, the statue in the yard that is of her) was not damaged by the earthquake, even though a meter high wall had fallen over.
Also the family pets were okay.
In the streets of Santiago, we encountered another situation. Even though a large part of the city was not damaged by this very heavy earthquake, some old houses were heavily damaged, some totally damaged. We met people who with everything they had were loading up and fleeing.
Happy Hostel: a total wall was gone: photo
In Santo Domingo, the same street as ours: photo:
The window of a liquor store: photo
A television crew getting the opinions of the Santiago people: photo
Modern buildings were not damaged greatly: photo
Many clocks were still at 3:30, the time of the earthquake: photo
Even though there are hundreds of deaths, the airport was closed for two days and there are no buses (important transportation source between the large cities)running, we have the impression that this country in a very flexible and smart way will come through this disaster. In the capital, there are supermarkets closed, but the metro is going after only 1 day with a capacity of 80%; there is nowhere insofar as we have seen panic breaking out, no one is beginning to beg and the situation is very quiet. Sometimes we have the impression that the media overemphasize some of the facts about the disaster, although maybe that is also necessary to get the attention of those who are not in the immediate area.
What unfortunately cannot be said for towns like Concepcio, near the epicenter of the earthquake and Talcahunano, that was swept away by the tsunami, the number of victims and the damage here in Santiago is, we think, something that can be handled and certainly compared to what happened in Haiti.
I read this on allsantiago.com, a website with tourist information about the city: "Santiago cold well be a miraculous place. It's wondrous, in fact, that it exists at all. Hopelessly isolated for centuries, destroyed several times by earthquakes and repeatedly pounded by financial meltdowns and political crisis, this city is one tough cookie. It's no surprise the world is setting its eyes on the Chilean capital as it finally shakes off years of shortcomings and bounces fashionably into action. Down the ages, life in Santiago has been more defined by resourcefulness than excess, yet it cannot be denied that the city has continually exerted an alluring effect on the hundreds of thousands of soul-searchers who have made it their home. The spirit of its population is evidence of an unyielding belief in self-improvement, hard work, and of course miracles themselves."
Travel plans changed.
One of the hardest earthquakes in history and you sit in the middle of it----that doesn't happen on every normal world trip and we are and remain seriously impressed.
Our travel plans in Chili were naturally totally changed because we at this moment can get out of this city. Luckily we can stay a week longer in Santiago before our flight to Los Angeles (also an area notorious for earthquakes) leaves the following week on Saturday. Maybe we will still go in a few days to Valparaiso, the beautiful Chilean coastal city where we had rented an apartment and where we actually were supposed to be traveling to today.
Placed by Geert on 28 February 2010.
Labels: terremoto santiago
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