A couple of nights ago there a magnitude 6.6 earthquake, and the Chilean’s referred to it as a minor aftershock. It is one of thousands of minor aftershocks that have woken me up at night, or rattled the windows, or occurred unobserved by me since the major earthquake that happened in September. I have decided to write about it because I believe my experience was a little different from what most people see on the news.
I was at the library on Wednesday September 16th.
At the San Joaquin Library. Imagine all those books shaking!
Very gradually, a loud vacuum-machine type noise began grinding and howling through the floor above me. It took me a second to associate the noise with the trembling I had started to feel through my legs. It occurred to me immediately that I might have been experiencing my first earthquake, however, I had a hard time believing it because my Chilean family had told me it was very unlikely I would feel an earthquake while in Chile, due to how recently the 2010 earthquake had occurred. The books on the shelf shook side to side, the windows wobbled, and I could literally feel the building swaying closer, farther, and closer again to the trees outside. I slowly walked to the only other person in the room. He was so calm that despite the loud and obnoxious shaking, I had to ask him if this was a strong earthquake. He replied quickly but relaxed that it was definitely strong and unusually long. He told me the best we could do was to wait it out near one of the library pillars. I followed his lead, still unsure if I was in any real danger because of how calm my fellow classmate was. After about three minutes, the magnitude 8.4 earthquake stopped. The guy who was with me sat back down and continued studying. I pretended to do the same but turned my attention to my phone to let family know I was alright.
Despite the scare, not a single book at the library fell from the shelf. Everyone was extremely calm on the metro ride home. The worst I saw was a temporary power outage back home. All of the Chileans demonstrated and incredible social control of the situation. I assume their calmness was due to their experience with earthquakes, but it must also extends to the incredible degree of preparation that this society has put to prepare for national disasters.