And I Thought a 5.0 was Something to Write About...

Last Wednedsay was a 5.0, then yesterday 7.7... what does next Wednesday have in store for us? Hopefully nothing! Here is an email I sent to the masses, but just incase I don't have your email or accidentally missed you, here it is:

Thank you for all of the calls & emails. The power came on almost an hour ago, just 9 hours after the earthquake hit (although has gone out several times while typing this email... ah! we also just had another aftershock...). We are ok. A bit shaken up (literally), but that is only to be expected. All of the pictures were quite topsy-turvy on the walls, a few fell onto the floor, some books fell, a tile cracked & a vase broke, but that's it. Amazing for a 7.7 earthquake... especially when you consider we were just over 100 miles from the epicenter and the picture you are seeing all over the news of part of a hotel falling on parked cars is just down the street from us...we drive by it every day on the way to Hailey's school, the grocery store, church, everywhere. The city of Antofagasta is pretty much rock & everything is built into the rock. Because of this, when we have earthquakes (which is quite often, just not of this magnitude) we feel it but there is no damage. Thank you for your concern. If you want more details you can read the novel below;). The worst part was that I was unable to get to Hailey. School was just about over and I had buckled up Ava & Jinnie & pushed the button to open the gate... it started to open & then stopped, but started shaking. At first I thought it was a problem with the gate. Then I realized my car was shaking & for a split second I thought it was having mechanical problems. I then saw people running out of the apartment building screaming and I turned off the car, hopped out & got the girls out as quickly as I could... the shaking was very strong at this point and I was afraid the parking structure we were on was going to collapse (but it didn't). I have no idea how long the earthquake lasted. It felt like minutes, but I'm sure it wasn't that long. We have earthquakes all the time here... 5's & 6's even, but it's never been like this. I felt like I was in the ocean riding the waves on a body board. What a relief when it was over! I immediately looked at the ocean for any sign of a tsunami (we live above tsunami level, but the road we take to Hailey's school is along the coast), but it looked pretty calm. The swimming pool did look like an ocean however... it is normally calm, but it had large waves and didn't settle down entirely for about 10 minutes. All of the power was out & I was unable to open the gate to leave and get Hailey. One of our neighbors in the apartment has their children in the same school that she is in and we give each others children rides, so I went to call them to ask if they could help, but the phones were dead. Their maid assured me that they would bring her home. I waited & waited. The girls & I said a prayer, thanking Heavenly Father for our safety and asking him to help us find a way to get Hailey home, and that Hailey and Dave were safe (he was at the mine and at this point I had no idea where the earthquake had originated... it was so strong where we were I can't imagine what it was like in the epicenter). I was getting really antsy... we would walk up to our apartment, look around, try the phones, walk down to the street again... just hoping Hailey would be home with the neighbors soon. Another neighbor came home & was so concerned that Hailey was still at school that he said I could take his car and get her. I decided to wait a little bit longer for the other neighbor. After what seemed like forever, they arrived... without Hailey. She said that Hailey wasn't there and the teacher said she had left with a friend. Now I really panicked because what friend she would have left with, and what if it wasn't really a friend at all? I left Ava with the neighbors maid & her kids & hopped in the back seat with Jinnie & we started speeding to the school to find her. We stopped every car that we passed that we knew attended the same school & none of them had seen her. We were just pulling out of the neighborhood to a main street when my neighbors husband passed us with Hailey in the back seat! Yeah! We quickly turned around & followed them home. All that we can figure is that the teachers made a mistake with all of the confusion going on and told my neighbor the wrong information because Hailey was there the whole time... infact, she was the last child there (poor girl!). When my neighbors husband arrived at the school he was told that his children were with his wife, but Hailey was still there (they know we are neighbors), so he brought her home to me! About an hour later we finally heard from Dave. He was farther away from the epicenter, but still felt the quake very strongly. He was with people from the US, Canada & Brazil touring the mining facilities and then they flew out this evening to Santiago so that Dave can present the 2008 budget. This is his big project of the year. Great timing. There have been several aftershocks, but not bad... the biggest a 5.7 (I know... sounds bad, but after a 7.7 it's a peice of cake;)). The girls and I have talked a lot about earthquakes, read about them in a book, and have offered many prayers of thanks and comfort. Just as I was tucking the girls in the power came back on... we danced and sang! It was so fun and really helped the girls feel at ease going to bed. We are safe, the girls are in bed, the power is on (for a minute anyway;)) & now the reality of all that has happened today is hitting... we have truely been blessed that there wasn't more damage, inguries & deaths. love, Kim