Earthquake Story

Me and my friend Jake hanging out at the bamboo park.

There was an earthquake in the Sichuan Province yesterday, which was somehow not on the list of things that I anticipated needing to deal with on this trip.  Many people died and many many more were injured in the quake that was centered about 70km from Chengdu, the capital of the province, and where I am staying.  Perhaps I should have considered an earthquake as a possibility as this area was hit by a major quake on the same fault line in 2008, when 90,000 people died and entire towns were destroyed.  But I don’t consider earthquake risks before I go to California, so why would I consider that here?

I’m not sure when you know an earthquake is starting (someone mentioned a specific rumbling noise that she heard), but for me I was glued to my computer following the news of the Boston marathon bombing suspect being captured when I started to feel the building shake.  At first I stopped to consider if a truck was merely going by, or if there was a train somewhere near (there’s not), when I realized it was shaking much harder and much longer than anything I’ve ever experienced.  My mind registered that it was indeed an earthquake and I jumped up trying to remember what to do.  It’s been many many years since my grade school earthquake drills, and I couldn’t remember what the proper response was.  Hide under a desk?  Go into the bathroom?  Stop, drop and roll?  I saw people outside and realized that must be it – get the heck out of the building. I threw on some clothes, grabbed a phone and dashed out the door.

Ultimately no additional quakes were felt immediately, and I briefly went back inside to get my purse, Chinese cell phone and brush my teeth before heading out again.  I still didn’t know how big the earthquake was but I decided to quickly Skype call my mom so that she wouldn’t worry if she saw a news blurb about an earthquake in China.  I basically am cut off from the outside world once I leave my hotel room (my Chinese cell phone is pretty much local use only) and I didn’t know when I would return to the room. 

I headed off to the haven where I knew I would feel comforted and I could assess the situation:  Starbucks.  During the 20 minute walk to the mall, I scoured the landscape trying to see any evidence of any damage, but found none.  There were people milling about different residential buildings, but other than that, there was no visible damage and there were people going about their business like nothing happened.  By the time I was ordering my grande vanilla latte, I had calmed down and reconnected with my host friend Liu Liu.  She was worried about me, and in fact was on campus looking for me.  Yet again, I was struck by the kindness of the people here.  Liu Liu invited me to spend the day with her family, and I headed off to meet her.  Before the end of the day her 11 year old son “Jake” and I were great friends, and I was the beneficiary of Jake’s encyclopedia knowledge of all things automotive.

In fact, I had almost forgotten how the day began, with a major earthquake.   I’ve been reminded, of course, many times since then.  Sometimes by the news, that announces that the death and injury toll keeps rising.  Then there was the large crack in the wall of my friends’ 17^th story apartment I saw this morning, but wasn’t there when I visited them on Friday night.  And finally I’m reminded, ever so strongly, by the aftershocks that continue on more than 24 hours after the original earthquake (one woke me up at 5am).  Each time I hear a small rumble and the building shake, I feel my heart race again and I wonder if this is the one where I need to escape quickly.  Thankfully they all pass quickly, and all I’m left with is an adrenaline hangover.  I’ve decided that earthquakes and I just aren’t meant to be BFF.