Tråd (Tread) pattern by Birgitta Hahn/10-gruppenA dreadful weekend. On Saturday's early morning central and southern Chile was awaken by a devastating earthquake and following tsunami that damaged coastal and insular areas. Fortunately my family, friends and I are all right. Thanks to all of you who have expressed your concern through messages and emails.
Though this is the second earthquake I experience (last one in central Chile was in 1985) and we are quite used to frequent seismic activity, this 90-second quake frightened the h out of me. It was the darkness, the noise, the stuff falling from shelves (if not the shelves themselves), but most of all, the fear of uncertainty or yet, the certainty, the actual possibility that "this is it!"
I can't say the worst has happened – the number of dead people is constantly rising, there's looting in the affected cities and towns, and the prospect of recovery looks like a long and hard way ahead. But I do hope that sooner than later everything will be fine again :)