We are okay. Phil had left the house and was on his way to a coffee shop with a friend and M, Yali, and myself were in the apartment when the quake started. M was napping still and Yali and I were in the living room chatting. I saw the leaves of the plant on the bookcase start moving and felt the laptop on my lap move. I casually told Yali, "Look at the hanging lamp it's moving." She immediately looked terror stricken. I tried to assure her it was no big deal. I actually first thought it was probably wind but when I looked outside I knew it couldn't be wind. Then the apartment really started moving (we're on the 8th floor) and we heard crashing sounds out in the hallway (tiles falling off the ceiling). We both ran to M's room who was startled by us barging in.
Yali wanted to immediately get outside but I knew we couldn't with tiles falling and I didn't know what the state of the stairwell would be like. I really didn't know where to go because we have so many windows everywhere and Chinese construction leaves much to be desired. So, we sat in the bathroom against the wall. We both started prying (in English and Chinese) and all I could imagine was the place falling and us dying. It is definitely the most scared I've ever been. It was such an odd feeling to have such a huge tall (20 floors) building moving back and forth. Madeleine just sat quietly in my lap. My cell phone started ringing in the living room and since I figured it was Phil I tried to get it but it stopped before I could answer (the lines went down for a bit). Once I got back to the bathroom and sat down it had stopped.
We ran to the front door and Yali told me not to forget a key so I grabbed my purse and M's shoes. Yali and I had slippers on so we just ran out as we were. There were tiles all over the floor in the hallway. Yali wanted to take the elevator down because it would be faster but I told her that we couldn't and had to take the stairs. As we went down a couple other families joined us and they were all in high panic mode. So, I was telling everyone not to worry and that it was over. :-) I was also telling this over and over to Yali who was still terrified. We got downstairs and outside with no problem.
Phil was in a taxi with his friend and the driver stopped the car, opened his door, leaned out and looked out at the tires. Phil told him, "This is an earthquake." People started flooding out of the restaurants and buildings where they were stopped and they told the driver to turn around and bring them back home. Phil was concerned for us knowing we were in the apartment but reassured on the drive home as no buildings were falling or even had any visible damage. He got a bit scared when he didn't find us in the places outside that he thought we might be at and decided to come upstairs to make sure we were able to get out. Miraculously, he was able to get a line to call me on his cell phone and find out we were okay.
After a bit of running around the whole family met together and we stayed outside for about 2 hours before venturing upstairs. We were some of the first to go back home as there were rumors of another one happening at 4pm and that it would be safe to go back home at 7pm. Where this info came from I'm not sure but we went home about 5:30pm. People were buying cases of water and instant noodles at the few little shops in our complex and Yali even suggested we might need to camp outside for a few days. It was a bit amusing to me as we didn't even lose power the whole time. It was very scary however and a really bad quake back in the 70s was probably on the minds of those older than me.
Last night around 10pm I thought I felt the slightest rocking and Phil said the hanging lamp was moving the slightest bit. It brought a sick feeling to my stomach and Phil watched the lamp closely but if anything did indeed happen it was little and over fast.
There are a few things (other than the obvious) that I'm really thankful for...I stayed home yesterday from school and I wouldn't have been home when the earthquake started. I'm pretty sure Yali would have run out into the hallway with M and tried to take the elevator down. So, I'm glad I was here to bring some clarity to her thoughts. And I'm also thankful that the stress and fear I felt didn't put me into labor. Yesterday would have been a bad day to need to go to the hospital.
The house only has a few cracks around the tops of some door frames. It was enough of a rocking to make our sliding glass doors (off of the kitchen) open about a foot and a knock over a chair.
Please excuse my insensitivity but I couldn't help but laugh last night and smile now when Phil told me he saw a young lady sitting on the ground holding on to a tree as they drove back to the apartment. A priceless photo when you know that trees in Xi'an are mostly pathetic twigs.
Thanks for your thoughts and continue to think of those in the areas really hit hard by this disaster.
Yali wanted to immediately get outside but I knew we couldn't with tiles falling and I didn't know what the state of the stairwell would be like. I really didn't know where to go because we have so many windows everywhere and Chinese construction leaves much to be desired. So, we sat in the bathroom against the wall. We both started prying (in English and Chinese) and all I could imagine was the place falling and us dying. It is definitely the most scared I've ever been. It was such an odd feeling to have such a huge tall (20 floors) building moving back and forth. Madeleine just sat quietly in my lap. My cell phone started ringing in the living room and since I figured it was Phil I tried to get it but it stopped before I could answer (the lines went down for a bit). Once I got back to the bathroom and sat down it had stopped.
We ran to the front door and Yali told me not to forget a key so I grabbed my purse and M's shoes. Yali and I had slippers on so we just ran out as we were. There were tiles all over the floor in the hallway. Yali wanted to take the elevator down because it would be faster but I told her that we couldn't and had to take the stairs. As we went down a couple other families joined us and they were all in high panic mode. So, I was telling everyone not to worry and that it was over. :-) I was also telling this over and over to Yali who was still terrified. We got downstairs and outside with no problem.
Phil was in a taxi with his friend and the driver stopped the car, opened his door, leaned out and looked out at the tires. Phil told him, "This is an earthquake." People started flooding out of the restaurants and buildings where they were stopped and they told the driver to turn around and bring them back home. Phil was concerned for us knowing we were in the apartment but reassured on the drive home as no buildings were falling or even had any visible damage. He got a bit scared when he didn't find us in the places outside that he thought we might be at and decided to come upstairs to make sure we were able to get out. Miraculously, he was able to get a line to call me on his cell phone and find out we were okay.
After a bit of running around the whole family met together and we stayed outside for about 2 hours before venturing upstairs. We were some of the first to go back home as there were rumors of another one happening at 4pm and that it would be safe to go back home at 7pm. Where this info came from I'm not sure but we went home about 5:30pm. People were buying cases of water and instant noodles at the few little shops in our complex and Yali even suggested we might need to camp outside for a few days. It was a bit amusing to me as we didn't even lose power the whole time. It was very scary however and a really bad quake back in the 70s was probably on the minds of those older than me.
Last night around 10pm I thought I felt the slightest rocking and Phil said the hanging lamp was moving the slightest bit. It brought a sick feeling to my stomach and Phil watched the lamp closely but if anything did indeed happen it was little and over fast.
There are a few things (other than the obvious) that I'm really thankful for...I stayed home yesterday from school and I wouldn't have been home when the earthquake started. I'm pretty sure Yali would have run out into the hallway with M and tried to take the elevator down. So, I'm glad I was here to bring some clarity to her thoughts. And I'm also thankful that the stress and fear I felt didn't put me into labor. Yesterday would have been a bad day to need to go to the hospital.
The house only has a few cracks around the tops of some door frames. It was enough of a rocking to make our sliding glass doors (off of the kitchen) open about a foot and a knock over a chair.
Please excuse my insensitivity but I couldn't help but laugh last night and smile now when Phil told me he saw a young lady sitting on the ground holding on to a tree as they drove back to the apartment. A priceless photo when you know that trees in Xi'an are mostly pathetic twigs.
Thanks for your thoughts and continue to think of those in the areas really hit hard by this disaster.