April 5, 2010

shaking

We went to El Centro for Easter and right as David's family started cooking our feast we had an earthquake. I was feeding William on the couch and after about five seconds of shaking it really started to move the house. My mother-in-law yelled for me to run outside with William. The ground was shaking terribly and I made it outside onto the lawn but the shaking went on and on and just got more violent. The ground was shaking so bad I almost fell down a few times. When it was over I felt like I had been spinning around to "get dizzy" like when I was a kid. However, this was far from fun! We later laughed about how I was screaming my head off in the backyard and how the neighbors were probably thinking, "Someone's an earthquake amateur!" Guilty.

William was perfectly calm the entire time and thankfully none of David's family was hurt except for a small cut on David's arm from where he held the glass china cabinet doors closed. The interior of their house has some damage though. All the cupboard items came down leaving the kitchen in broken shambles. Bookcases and shelves came down and some of their family heirlooms are lost, which is hard. Since the epicenter was in Baja California and El Centro is on a fault line we got the full 7.2 magnitude. For the next several hours there were about 20 aftershocks which, of course, scared me to no end. When we left for home just a few hours ago they were still without power. We were told that several homes closer to the Mexico border were destroyed and an overpass crumbled on a part of the freeway. We made it back to San Diego though without too much trouble.
Sorry for the crummy iPhone pictures. My camera was dead and my hand was still shaking awfully hard.

I think I only slept for about two hours last night. After putting William to bed, I went to get him only about an hour later to bring him to our bed. I'm so terrified of leaving him any place where I can't immediately scoop him up and run to safety. A few of our things fell down in our apartment but otherwise there was no real effect here. I'm working on securing some things a lot better today. When I posted the pictures of my bedroom redo, someone commented that I should think about having that mirror above our bed. Well, now it's all I can think about. I still want it there but I'm hoping there's a better way to bolt it to the wall. I can honestly say this was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced. Maybe I'm being dramatic (and I'm confident that watching 2012 the night before was the worst idea ever), but for a few seconds I was confident we were going to die. I feel so blessed that we are alright.

13 comments:

  1. So scary! I'm sure the neighbors would've been dying laughing at ME if I were there... I would be screaming my head off!

    Glad everyone is alright. :)

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  2. Wow! can't blame you for screaming... I've never felt an earthquake & certainly would be screaming... maybe I'd STILL be screaming. :) Glad you're safe!

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  3. That would scare anyone so don't feel bad. I'm glad you're OK and got home safely. Of coarse, San Diego may have a few earthquakes in the future, but then you know that. And 2012 isn't the movie to watch right before any earthquake!!

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  4. That is so crazy how trashed the house got! So scary!! Glad everyone’s okay...and the 2012 movie would have pushed me over the edge to!

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  5. Holy Cow!! That would be so scary!! I can't believe you guys were in that terrible earthquake! I am so glad you guys are okay!

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  6. OH my gosh! I can't believe how bad it was! I am so glad you guys are okay! I wasn't in town thank heavens!

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  7. Your no longer a quake greenie:):) You have every right to scream and be terrified Liz! Even a seasoned pro still gets their heart pumping and the nerves on end.( I do not miss quakes at all) Just a bit of advice, stand leaning into the door jam next time, it's much safer than being outside. :):)

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  8. We live in Escondido, North SD County and we felt it pretty hard too, My brother lives in el Centro and same thing happened to the cabinets. Glad to hear no one was hurt.

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  9. SCARY! I'm so glad you got William and yourself to safety! You are so brave -- don't let the neighbors fool you!

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  10. YIKES!! Very SCARY!! Even the thought of earthquakes scare me! I would have done the very same thing you did... and I don't care if I'm an amateur, I'm a screamer too!

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  11. Wow you were so far south that's so scary! I am glad that everyone is safe. We were further north in Thousand Oaks so we missed it, but the ground shook at our place. So many earthquakes lately!

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  12. I was wondering if you guys were in El Centro when that happened. I'm glad you guys are okay. I couldn't imagine what it felt like since it was crazy here. I was woken up out of a dead sleep to my bed shaking violently. At first I though Brad was being funny and then as I came too a little more, I realized it was an earthquake, jumped out of bed and got under a doorway. We felt multiple earthquakes last night at work too. The morning couldn't have come fast enough since we were on the top floor at the hospital.

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  13. I would be freaking out! We were at the WIld Animal Park and felt nothing. Glad you are all safe!!

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