At 12:33 pm there was another one. A substantially bigger one. Again, we met in the doorway and I cuddled him tight while we waited for it to pass. and waited. and waited. It lasted about a minute and we found out later it was a 6.9. We could hear things crashing in the kitchen and it definitely shook us emotionally as well as physically. It was long enough that I started to wonder if we needed to run out of the house as I am not sure I trust the integrity of the 100-year-old stilts that this house sits on.
Sean was home for this one and he was in the kitchen. He thought it would be short and small so just hung out in there, but realized after the fact that that was really dumb. He did, however, watch all of the food and glass fall off the shelves and onto the floor. Miraculously nothing broke, even though things like a large glass jar of sun-dried tomatoes fell from off of the top of the cupboard that is about 9 feet up. An unopened Costco-sized bag of chocolate chips fell and spilled open all over the floor. Spices fell and broke open. And in the classroom we had games and books fall off of the shelves all over the floor. (To be fair, neither of those floors were completely clean to begin with but they definitely looked a lot worse after than they did before!) We lost power and internet, and live far enough out of town that we don't have great reception without WiFi, so we couldn't text but we could call.
Brayden was supposed to be presenting his Spring Project in his GT Science class today at 1:40. We got to the school about 1:30 and found out that since B and A's classrooms are both on the third floor, they were evacuated to lower level classrooms. They decided they weren't going to do B's presentation today so we ended up grabbing all of the kids and bringing them home.
On the drive we had a conversation about what would happen at our house if another one happened. About where we would run to and where our safe meeting place was. We worked together to gather food and water, clothes, sleeping bags, emergency supplies, first aid kits, ham radios, etc. and loaded it all up in the car. Although we are not really in danger of lava, we are definitely not immune to destruction from earthquakes.
After the 6.9, we felt several aftershocks. Since we got home with the boys we have probably felt five or six more. Each time they yell "earthquake!" and run out away from the house and power lines. They have all been small temblors but enough to really get us thinking that we need to be prepared. I do feel like they are good practice for if another big one hits!
We are taking it easy tonight. Pizza and a movie. We will probably all sleep in the living room so we can all be together and also be by the front door so we can evacuate if one hits in the middle of the night. We really hope and pray that we will be safe, but I truly feel we are ready if we need to be!
No comments:
Post a Comment