TUESDAY, 21 SEPTEMBER 1999
[From an e-mail to a friend]
“I’m okay, just a little dizzy. I had just gone to bed when I felt my insides stir. I thought it was either a heart attack or an earthquake.
It was quite frightening. It felt as if a very strong wind was blowing, but the curtain only moved slightly. The walls, and therefore the entire apartment, shook. I sat on the edge of the bed and waited for the experience to end. Then I called my parents to say I had just survived my first earthquake. I was talking with my mother when the floor began to stir again.
It’s quite something to experience when the lounge where you’ve spent so many hours suddenly acts as if it were a ship.
My mother, of course, didn’t find it amusing at all. I told her she didn’t have to worry; it wasn’t that bad. It was only when [a friend from Johannesburg] called three hours later, and immediately after that my sister to ask if I was okay that I began to realise it was much worse in other places.
To make matters worse, this afternoon when I was standing in a class (on the third floor), there was another stirring. From then on, I’ve felt a little woozy.
My apartment is fortunately on the ground floor. I spoke with a woman who lives on the sixteenth floor of an apartment building, and she said the furniture moved, and some of their windows broke.
[…]
Anyways, thanks for the concern.”
______________________
One of the more dramatic photos of the earthquake:
Read more about the earthquake of 21 September 1999.
______________________