And yes, we are still alive, thank you very much...It was 7 am on Sunday, and I was up getting ready to leave to pick John up from work. It was raining outside; a strange sight in this dry area of ours. Well, there is after all a flashflood warning for the region this weekend.
Was going to the kitchen to get a drink when I felt the strong tremors. The floor was shaking and shelves and furniture rattling. Surely the neighbors upstairs can't be having a dance party at this time of the day! This must be my maiden earthquake!
Ran to the room to get the baby from his crib - he was sleeping, erm, like a baby... Just when I was wondering if things were gonna get worse, the trembling stopped. Wasn't planning on sticking around to find out if more would come. Left the house for the drive down to Pearl Habour (not the best move, I was told; you should remain at home when earthquake strikes).
Not even 3 minutes into the drive, the radio stations went silent and all the traffics lights died on us as well. There was a state-wide power outage! Traffic was left undirected, phonelines were either down or congested, people were stuck in elevators, emergency staff fully activated; Hawaii was declared in a state of disaster.Throughout the day, there were reportedly 3 major quakes and 15 aftershocks, with the largest at a 6.6 on the Richter scale. Good thing we didn't feel most of them.
Most stores were not open, and those few which ran dimly on backup generators were flooded with people stocking up on ready foods and ice to stuff in their now bacteria-friendly warm refrigerators. If anyone's wondering, of course the stores raised the price of ice! Despite so, they were sold out in a flash.
Other frozen food and dairy products were not in saleable condition, 
but breads and such were totally snapped up.
What an experience to learn to thank God for the everything things in our lives, and not only when we lose them! And lost them we did: light, fans, TV, security, communication - for 13 hours in our case. When power was restored at almost 9 pm that night, that was the first time we heard unanimous cheering for electricity!
7 comments:
Thanks God all of you are ok. I guess you need to learn and follow safety procedures on what to and not to do in the event of an Earth quake. Family please take care.
Dad
Thank godness you guys are totally alright..do take care!
u guys...starting to plan when to come back permanently.
haha?
john....ask uncle sam to post you full time in Singapore la.
much much safer...except haze from good "old" indo.
cheers
ken
Hey, so glad all of you were unscathed. Take super duper good care of yourselves ya! Earthquake, flashflood and power outage?!! Do find out what to do and how to deal with possible disasters, natural or otherwise hor
found a website with some info on what to do when a natural disaster strikes..not sure how accurate but worth a read ya
http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/~nat_haz/
elsa
A BIG thank you to everyone for your concern and well-wishes through the phone, email and our blog. Love you all! *Muack!*
Glad that everyone is okay! Thank God! =) Hope your house wasn't in a huge mess after!
HELLO!! Teacher, ni hao ma? Your Baby SO cute!! Ohh ya, i am siew teng, ur student frm 3.9 :p Hahs, long time nv saw u le.. Hees, stay happy (: Take care, Bye (:
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