Well, as all of you know we are safe and sound back in our house in Santiago after spending the earthquake in an 11th floor apartment in Vina del Mar (Alejandro's parent's) about one block from the ocean. But, I did want to share with you our experience and some of the pictures of the apartment after the quake. Honestly, it is probably the scariest thing I have ever lived through and experiencing it with a small baby is even worse.
We went to the apartment with Alejandro's parents for the weekend, but they were going to a wedding Friday night for a family member nearby. So it was just the three of us in the apartment when the quake started. We were in the bedroom, sound asleep, when the building started to shake. There are a lot of tremors here, so I didn't really think too much of it until I heard glass breaking and we started to sway back and forth. The noise was incredible.... I was sure all the windows were broken (none broke, they just all opened... apparently they are made this way on purpose). Alejandro got up and I yelled at him to grab Amalia out of the pack and play... he was wearing earplugs so I had to yell several times. He grabbed her and we huddled on the bed together (apparently some things had fallen in the pack and play after we grabbed her so good timing). As it started to slow down a little Alejandro got up and yelled at me to get dressed... we had to get out of there fast as there could be a Tsunami. I threw on jeans and a jacket, grabbed Amalia, and headed for the stairs. The door to get out was blocked by another glass door that had fallen across it, but I managed to step around it and headed quickly down the 11 flights of stairs. Alejandro grabbed the car seat and diaper bag and followed me out. There was debris from the building all over the stairs and people yelling to get out as fast as possible. Those were the longest 11 flights of stairs of my life. When I got down to the second floor, the power went out and everything was black. I started to panic, but my eyes adjusted and I was able to get out of the building. Alejandro came down and we started running towards the car (luckily it wasn't parked in the basement of the building like it usually is). It was pitch black and I was afraid we were going to trip over something. I tried to call my inlaws right away, but couldn't get through. I was worried about them and knew they would be worried about us. We got in the car and went to a cousin's house up on one of the hills... hoping that would be high enough if the Tsunami came (which, luckily, it didn't!). We got really lucky as the cousin had a five week old baby and had blankets and formula. All stuff we neglected to bring in our rush to get out. There were several aftershocks, but luckily nothing as terrible as the first one.
After a few hours we were able to get in touch with Alejandro's parents. They were in the car coming home from the wedding when it happened. They then went to the apartment to find us... but obviously we weren't there. They didn't know where we were, so they headed back to Santiago.
Around 10:00 am we met his parents back at the apartment to get the rest of our stuff (they had driven back to assess the damage) ... clothes, stroller, etc. and to check out the damage. As we were cleaning a little, another strong aftershock came and we decided to get the hell out of there! We drove home to Santiago (1.5 hour drive)... that's when I was finally able to call Lynn and let her know we were ok.
As most of you know, we didn't have electricity for several days and we ended up staying with my in-laws since I didn't want to be alone during the day and they had food, etc. Our house in Santiago was barely touched... just a few things walked off some shelves and a lot of water jumped out of the pool. I know we got off easy in the quake compared to many others, but it is still not something I ever want to live through again. Though, unfortunately, it is a part of life here in Chile and tremors happen quite often. I'm just glad Amalia slept through all of it and we didn't have to deal with a screaming baby as well!
Here are some pictures of the apartment we took before cleaning up. Most of the damage was superficial, but there were a few cracks in the walls and some fallen debris.
This is one of the bathrooms that faired pretty well... only the shower door fell off.
Amalia's stroller was full of concrete that had fallen off the wall...
The disaster of a kitchen... I don't think one plate or cup survived.
The living room... the table is a heavy sheet of glass. It didn't break, but did fall of its pedestals.
The TV fell off its stand and all the table were destroyed.
The bathroom attached to our bedroom. The shelves fell and broke the mirror.
Only a few bottle of wine and some stone eggs survived from the hall storage cubby.
I had trouble sleeping Saturday night after the earthquake always thinking of what could have happened. Did we do the right thing in leaving the apartment or was it actually safer there if a Tsunami came instead of being on the street? What if I were in the kitchen preparing Amalia's bottle instead of in the bedroom where there wasn't much that could fall? What if I were in the bathroom when it started and got trapped under the shelving unit? There are always a lot of what if scenarios, but I'm glad we were in the right place at the right time.
My little sweetie playing in her tunnel!
Here she is trying on her swimming cap - just a little too big! She starts classes next week!
Unlike her aunts, Amalia really likes to eat fish!
This one is for Aunt Lynn... we had to adapt it a bit for the cold, but she does look adorable in Chloe's dress!
And here she is all dressed up and having a good time for Grandma's Mother's day lunch!
Here she is trying on her swimming cap - just a little too big! She starts classes next week!
Unlike her aunts, Amalia really likes to eat fish!
This one is for Aunt Lynn... we had to adapt it a bit for the cold, but she does look adorable in Chloe's dress!
And here she is all dressed up and having a good time for Grandma's Mother's day lunch!
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