EARTHQUAKE!!!

My kid's first experience with a Quake!

After a day of fun, my friend Melissa and I decided that between us, we could order lunch at McDonalds. Her spanish is better than mine, but we both figured we could say, "Uno numero dos, Agua sin gas, por favor". (1 number 2 with water please). Unfortunately our plans were thwarted when we walked in and noticed that they didn't use numbers for their meals. Whatever, McNugget is McNugget regardless of the language. I survived - not super eloquently, but managed to get my meal. We laughed at ourselves and ate lunch.

It's important to know that the area around this McDonalds is under construction. It's a mess actually. When we were leaving I had to back into a vacant spot in order to get turned around to head out the salida (exit). When I backed into that spot, it sounded like I was driving over a grated road. The metal cover over us started to shake and there was this horrible noise. I checked to be sure I hadn't hit anything. I didn't. So I figured it was someone doing construction on that metal cover, and I pulled out. No big. Shortly thereafter, I get a text from Alex "EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!" I thought, wait...what? Was that an earthquake? Apparently. It was a 5.7 - pretty substantial. I didn't really even notice. I try to get through to Greg and the lines are busy. I text Andrew to check that he's ok and he doesn't respond. I get on the high school principal's twitter and find a quick tweet saying that emergency procedures have been followed and all students and staff are safe. I finally get a text from Greg. He was on the freeway and didn't feel a thing. Andrew eventually responds with "OK" and I later find out the story...

Apparently Alex was in choir when it hit. It was a hard, loud, fast, and violent burst. With no desks in the choir room, students were told to go under tables around the room. There were girls screaming and crying. Apparently, it was their first earthquake as well. After the initial hit, they took the kids outside to the fields per emergency procedure, to wait for the aftershock. There wasn't one.

Andrew was in PE. They were up on the baseball field when it struck. He said you could see the buildings swaying and the glass shaking. He said the earth rolled across the field. He said he wasn't scared, but found the fact that the ground below him was moving a little unsettling. You can always count on the ground to be there. Still and solid. Not the case during an earthquake. He said the bleachers were trembling and it was soo loud. He didn't realize that it would be so loud. He texted me as soon as he got back in the building and could get to his phone.

That's our rule. The phones won't work for calling, but texts get through - so when in an earthquake, text and let us know you are ok. We have WhatsApp and it allows us to text groups. So the family group should be texted with a statement "I'm OK". Otherwise mom worries.