A home for my words.

I’m not sure why I never blogged about living through the 2016 earthquake in Quito. I suppose there were too many things going on back then. It’s now been 9 years. I found the journal entry I wrote the day after the earthquake and copied it below. I’ve only changed a few names for their privacy and some words for clarity:

Words from the past

“Last night, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the coast of Ecuador. This is following two earthquakes that recently hit Japan.

I was out for the first night after battling a bad flu for nearly a week.

Adam and I were sitting on his balcony and talking. He then gave me this strange face mid-conversation. His mouth opened, his tongue protruded, and his eyes bulged a bit. He had stopped in the middle of a sentence.

Internally, I wondered if I’d said something wrong. I couldn’t ponder it anymore and asked him what was his problem, but then I felt something strange.

I asked him if it was an earthquake and without actually responding, he started to make his way towards exiting the balcony.

As we stepped into the living room, things were still shaking. He was pacing around. I later found out he was looking for his keys, and Stacy, who he was hosting, came out in a towel. She had rushed out of the shower and was asking what we were supposed to do in this situation.

The only thing I could think of was to stand in a doorway. I also grabbed my phone, which I didn’t know at the time was extremely low on minutes.

The shaking went on for nearly a minute and triggered the security alarm, which wouldn't stop piercing the air.

Seeing as I had slept through the small tremor that took place while Megan visited, I didn’t know what to expect of an earthquake.

I hadn't imagined that things would feel like Jell-O. It was more of a wobbling sensation, but I suppose that may have been because Adam‘s building had some earthquake features in place.

The coast has been devastated. 233 deaths reported already. Lots of damage.

There was a very tiny tremor I felt around 2am, but the coast has endured over 130 aftershocks! To think we even felt it like we did 100 miles away says something.

That night, on the way to a party with Adam and Rachel, our cab driver told us he hadn’t felt anything while he was driving, but he showed us photos that friends and family were sent him on WhatsApp of the damage across Ecuador.”

Words from the present

When all was said and done, over 700 people perished as a result of the earthquake and over 6,000 were injured.

I had friends who were taking a trip nearby the epicenter at the time and they, understandably, seemed traumatized by what they’d experienced. Back in Quito, although we could feel that the earthquake was serious, apartments were made of much better materials. There was no considerable damage in the capital, but things were basically leveled in the less developed areas where the earthquake originated.

After my friends and I got out of the cab, everyone at the dinner party was laughing about where they were when they felt the tremors. Things were pretty lively until someone at the table started to shout for us to quiet down. She was reading the news and was the first person to bring home the point that Quito wasn’t the epicenter and things weren’t humorous as we’d originally thought. She conveyed to us how bad things were and a somber tone fell over the table.

When everyone left the dinner party that night, my friend offered me a bedroom to stay in. There were enough bedrooms for all three of us and since the apartment I was staying in was run down on the best of days, we were still worried about what I’d find when I got back. It would be best to check on it in the morning. I went from not being afraid during the earthquake itself to growing in my sense of worry once footage of the destruction began to spread. When the 2am aftershock hit, I actually jolted up in bed and shouted out for my friends. I was afraid, but they remained fast asleep.

I’m grateful that the 2016 earthquake gives me some context for what an earthquake could feel like, but I’m not sure how I’d react if I ever experienced another big one.