Shaken - My Experience in the Chile Earthquake 2010

Shaken

Now that I have some time off, and before the details of this memory fade, I will attempt to describe my experience that early morning of February 27, 2010 in Chile.

The story begins a little earlier. About a week or two before that day, I headed from Santiago de Chile down to the beautiful and pristine south. I went with a group of friends by bus. We enjoyed the gorgeous views, the friendly people, and even their typical aphrodisiac seafood dishes. We explored the austral road and its lakes.

Our last stop was probably the most beautiful of all. The town is called Pucon, and this is where the active Villarrica volcano is located. The day before, we did several miles in bicycle exploring all of the countryside. At night, we relaxed in natural hot springs deep in the forest. Then early at 4am we met with our tour leaders to begin the ascent to the top of Villarrica volcano.

Climbing to the top of an active volcano in a country known for its many earthquakes produces a thrilling and frightening combination. Most of the climb is through thick snow and the amount of oxygen is barely enough. In the last few hundred feet, at over 9,000 feet in high, there is no more snow. Instead, you are slapped with gusts of sulfur coming out from the volcano. You have to try and breathe as much as possible when the winds clear out the sulfur, but it is inevitable to breathe in the burning sulfur. One of my friends was unable to climb higher because of this. Once you reach the top, the tough conditions you go through are worth it. Seeing the view, the trail of flat land from where the lava from the last volcano eruption passed through, looking straight to the bottom of the abyss right at the edge of it, with now safety rails and strong wind gusts, provokes a feeling of awe.

Coming down is easy. You slide down the snow very quickly and in little time, just before sunset you are back to sea level.

The next day, February 24th, people began doing the preparations to return to Santiago. I decided to stay behind and continue on to Concepción by myself. That night though, I slept horribly. The thick sulfur, the change in temperature and the physical exhaustion made me feel very sick. I felt like the best option was to return to my apartment in Santiago, but it was too late. I had no reservations and it was high season. Early in the morning I went to check, and luckily there was just one seat available to go to Santiago.  I was spared the chaos that awaited me, had I been alone in Concepción that early morning of February 27 – but not completely.

In Santiago, my apartment was on the top floor of a 21 story apartment building. The night before the earthquake, I decided to stay home and cook a meal for myself alone. I remember I made pasta with a delicious al pesto sauce. I went to bed early and watched in TV Ricardo Arjona live in concert at the Viña del Mar Festival until I fell asleep.

The ground first shook at about 3am. This wasn’t the first time it had shaken like that. A few weeks ago I had felt the same shake. The building slides abruptly from one side to the other. I thought it was the same this time. I opened my eyes, stood up, then got back into bed to try and sleep. But a few seconds later (or a few fractions of a second since at this point time is completely distorted), the ground was shaking ferociously. I tried to stand up and finally reach the frame between my bedroom and the living room.  I grabbed a portable alarm that my mother had made me carry, since she insisted that I was in a seismic country.  Everything was falling, outside you could hear explosions almost as if the country was being attacked with air strikes. There were screams. There was darkness. The building was no longer just sliding; it was sliding and jumping up and down to a strength that left zero doubt to me that the building was at the verge of total collapse. I held on to alarm as if I was holding on to my life. I wasn’t completely sure that I would die in the collapse. Instead, I thought, if I just hold on tight to this alarm, I might be able to turn it on and have someone find me from behind all the rubble. The shaking was incessant, violent, and terrifying. Officially, it lasted 90 seconds, stretched several multiples more in my mind.

Once the calm returned, and miraculously the building was still standing, I proceeded to get out – but I was unable to. The door frame was jammed with the solid door and there was no way to open it. I kicked it with all my strength to no avail. There was zero visibility. The alarm I held onto all this time was of perfect use now, and I turned it on to call for help. After a few minutes a couple heard it and came to help. The alarm was also a flashlight, so I placed it on a table pointing at the door so that I could continue to kick it near the lock. On the other side the other guy would alternate with me in the kicks. It took nearly 30 minutes of maddening uncertainty until I was finally able to break through and get out of the apartment. The couple and I quickly reached to the stairs and began to go down. The stairs were like a scene from a scary movie. Pitch black with sporadic flashes of light which revealed cracks, debris, and water leaking. My flashlight was just enough to see the stairs as we went down quickly. There were very few people going down at that point since it had been 30 minutes after the earthquake.

When I reached the lobby, two friends from a nearby building were waiting for me. There was chaos, fear of being caught in a building collapsing, and people looting in the streets. With so much instability we thought that maybe we would have to go to the U.S. embassy. This is when I realized I had gone downstairs without anything – big mistake. Authorities weren’t sure if the building was fine, so we were all directed to stay in a ‘safe’ area, in case the building went down. Despite this, I had to gather strength and go back up, 21 floors through the stairs, get to my apartment, gather my passport and cash, then come back down and look for a way to move near the embassy – all this at 4 in the morning and with insecurity in the streets.

Going up 21 floors by stairs is not an easy thing to do. Add to that, darkness, debris, water leaking, and the fear that the building could collapse in any moment. There is a point where your legs can barely move anymore. So I would sometimes pull myself up using the handrail, so that I could rest my legs without stopping. Floor after floor after floor. I reached the 21st floor grabbed what I needed and quickly went down again to the lobby – nearly breathless.

We had no communication with the outside world. Telephones were not working and the authorities didn’t want to put the radio so that people wouldn’t panic. Luckily, that alarm, which was also a flashlight… was also a radio. My friends and I gathered in a corner to listen to the radio and assess the situation. We decided it was safer to wait until daylight before trying to reach closer to the embassy. We met with two more friends and decided to settle in their place, since it was in a second floor of a historic building that had resisted previous earthquakes. We gathered inventory of water and food, filled our backpacking equipment with all basic necessities and waited for daylight.

Some of us dozed off for a few minutes. In that period of time a poisonous spider managed to bite one of our friends who later ended up in the emergency room to be treated. These spiders are usually not seen wandering around, but the earthquake must have scared them all out. The doctor told our friend that had he waited a little longer for treatment, there would have been very serious consequences to his nervous system. A dark line was moving from where he was bitten in his hand, all the way up his arm up to his biceps. He is fine now.

After sunrise, we went out to try and communicate with our relatives. I had my iPhone and in some place in the street I got and open wifi connection that I have no idea how it was there, but it was only working for less than 10 minutes, enough for me and my friend to call our parents and say that we were fine.

We were able to get a room in a hotel next to the embassy. We all squished ourselves in a room, we were 7. That night I went to the hotel lobby restaurant. I sat alone, ordered a steak and a glass of red wine. It’s amazing how alive my senses were. I could feel all the juiciness of the steak, the softness of the wine, the feeling of being alive. I contemplated.