It's An Earthquake!

2008
GOD be Praised!!!!!! I just discovered that earthquakes are scarier than forest fires! I'm okay but a bit shaken (lol). I have never seen a building shake this way and it was only a 5.8 on Richter scale. I was listening to gospel music and praying by my front door when it happened... how appropriate because all I could say when it happened was:

First Shake:"Who's jumping upstairs...?"
Second Shake:"Sweet Jesus? Is it....!?" I stand in the doorway just in case (safer? I don't know).
Third Shake and roll:"Sweet Jesus! --This is an earthquake!!!!"
Fourth Shake and sustained roll!!!... loud rumble. The building sways noticeably 2-3 inches to the left and right. I get a surreal feeling...

I scream in my mind, "SWEET JESUS!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!" Then I grabbed my passport, purse and keys and grabbed a t-shirt (I've kept all these by my exit since the forest fires) and ran out! I'm on the first floor with 3 stories above me and a 2 level of parking garages below. The building is built on different levels so I am on the ground level on the back of the building. I thought of climbing over my back porch but it was too high so I had to run through a long corridor to an open patio where a few people were gathered. The patio is out in the open but it is still 2 stories up in the front of the building and I wanted out! I walk down the stairs and exit to the outside.

A few people (newly relocated from the east coast and foreigners) were outside waiting to see if there would be any after-shocks. Apparently there has been 27 aftershocks but, thankfully, I didn't feel any. I stayed outside for a while praying just to be sure. I didn't go in until everyone else went back in... including a 3-4 month old baby. I felt like a foolish, faith-less scared cat. The native Californians didn't even evacuate! They said "this is nothing ...wait until you feel the big one like in the 1980's". They were a bit smug but I claimed, in "the Name of Jesus", not to have that experience! I am looking up earthquake safety online... the web site said "BE PREPARED!"

I remember when I last felt scared like this and I immediately want to write my thoughts down. This earthquake experience was no where as bad as Hurricane Maryland which I experienced when I lived in the Caribbean in 1995. The earthquake lasted for 7-10 seconds and Hurricane Maryland lasted for nearly 12 hours. I was living in a condo, which sat on one of the highest hills on the island. My mother begged us to stop for provisions on the way to the condo or to drop her at her place which was safer but we ignored her requests. Soon the rain started... a drizzle then a steady pelt then a deluge.... More rain... Then the wind started howling and whipping... it wouldn't stop! All power went and we sat in the dark because I didn't stop to get batteries.

My brother called and worried about us. "Are you guys safe up there?" ME-"Of course"THE TRUTH-we had no batteries, no matches no water, limited food... I was cocky and unprepared. We manage to sleep a bit then I wake up suddenly. I hear an ominous sound like a freight train rushing at us. We can hear heavy objects being thrown about by the winds... roofs being lifted and carried and crash landing hundreds of feet away. Rain falls like no end and the winds blow even faster. Eventually the glass doors shatter sending shards of glass slicing towards us. I yell for my mom, "Run!" and we take shelter in the bedroom.

We are open to all the elements now. It's cold. We're now ankle deep in water... now it's nearly mid-shin. We struggle to hold the door closed and brace ourselves against the howling attack of the storm. My life literally flashes before my eyes... this can't be happening. I start to cry and my mom has to reassure me. I'm worried about my sister who is riding the storm out in a guest house on stilts that sits on a cliff. I hear her voice all night long... calling out to us. When the storm ends I am totally exhausted but I don't stop praying until my sister finally comes and calls out to us in the same windswept voice I was hearing in my head all night. I was so relieved!

Believe me, I learned my lesson from this and I am always prepared now. Please join me in praying that no natural or man made disaster or anything injurious of any kind can harm us. And of course, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.