As I have written elsewhere in this blog, I missed the Chile earthquake of Feb 2010 by a day and a half. How lucky of me! Our company did not allow us to return for 3 weeks and in those 3 weeks the more powerful aftershocks took place so I also missed those mercifully since I was staying usually at floor 20 and above at the Santiago Marriott during my stay in Santiago… I did experience a few smaller aftershocks most of which I was too busy/carried away with work to realize they were taking place except people would point it out.
This week’s Virginia quake, therefore, took me back to Chile and even my childhood in Puerto Rico where we did experience quakes like the one that just struck Virginia this past week. I knew what to do, I knew to worry but not panic, etc. But what I had forgotten was the rumble of the building as it shook – it is an eerie sound and many a person in Chile told me that was the worst part of the very long earthquake in February, more than the shaking itself.
Here are some of my pix from the damage in Santiago… Worth saying that these are only from the Centro. I did not see or capture damage outside of that area (I wasn’t hunting for it, most of these were near work!). Also, it is worth noting that these buildings are old and built before serious earthquake-safety codes were developed and implemented. Newer structures fared better.
