Thursday, May 28, 2009

Earthquake


At 2:25 this morning my world was rocked - quite literally - there was an earthquake just off the coast of Honduras. As a girl from San Jose, California - right outside of San Francisco - one would think I would be "used" to earthquakes. However, let's put things in perspective. I lived in probably the "safest" earthquake state in the U.S. All buildings are built to code, we have earthquake drills, and I've been through many, many earthquakes. Currently, I live in a cement house, with ZERO earthquake codes. It IS built to withstand a hurricane, so there is definitely comfort in that. The earthquake in San Francisco that collapsed a part of the Bay Bridge in 1989 was 6.9. The one here was 7.1 And let me just tell you - every increase on that ol' Richter Scale brings the shaking up sequentially. Our whole house rocked from side-to-side for 30 seconds, you could hear the rumbling of the houses moving, we lost electricity, we heard a huge CRASH as SOMETHING hit the floor and broke, but sat in bed as it continued to shake. The best advice is to get out and get out fast! Cement houses are not the best to be in/under during an earthquake. However, things were shaking so badly, there was no getting out of bed! The one here was right off the coast. There were tsunami warnings, but of course Honduras has no active warning system. People have died, the city is shut down, but our family is well - Thank God! Give prayers our way and to the people of La Ceiba, Honduras.

3 comments:

Jamie, the Very Worst Missionary said...

so glad you are all okay! i'm praying for Honduras as it begins the recovery process.

Rebecca said...

Glad to hear that you all are well!

Rebecca Conduff Aguirre said...

I hadn't heard about this one!!!! So glad you are okay...I agree, building codes aren't quite up to par...scary!