Two weeks ago we got our first, good Kathmandu earthquake scare!
It was close to midnight on August 30th when the 6.0 magnitude rumble, originating in China's Yunnan province, started to rattle the valley. I was in bed when my door began to insistently clang against its frame. For a moment I thought someone was trying to come in, but as the glass on my chandelier started to clink, I realized that everything was shaking. I must say that even as the understanding dawned on me that it was an earthquake I was entirely calm. Okay, here we go. I thought.
It didn't last long. It felt a lot like that June 2010 Central Canada Earthquake in some ways -- or any other earthquake I've felt in Ottawa, for that matter. However, unlike in Ottawa, in Kathmandu one cannot assume that a little shake is just that. Here, a little shake could always mean that the big shake is about to come.
Luckily, we have been trained well by out earthquake savvy colleagues: we got up, got dressed (roughly speaking), got our UN radios and got out. We weren't the only ones. The Korean couple that lives below us exited fully prepped with their stocked GO-Bag in tow. That definitely made us feel a touch under-prepared for the potential devastation we had been warned about since our arrival. I can't tell you how many times I have heard: "Kathmandu is sitting on a Fukashima earthquake with the vulnerability of Port au Prince."
Anyway, we waited outside for bout 30 minutes, listened to updates on the radio channel designated to security, and hoped that it hadn't been a foreshock for the monster earthquake we had been warned to await.
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In the end it was just a small one, and we went back inside after some time. It definitely wasn't the easiest, or deepest sleep any of us has ever had in our lives though, I can tell you that much. The next day Taryn and I agreed that we should get ourselves properly prepared: bring our own GO-Bags home from the office, stock them with some of our own necessities and not leave the apartment in pajamas and flip flops next time...
At some point I might have to change the name of this blog to "I'm Still Alive, In Kathmandu!"
It was close to midnight on August 30th when the 6.0 magnitude rumble, originating in China's Yunnan province, started to rattle the valley. I was in bed when my door began to insistently clang against its frame. For a moment I thought someone was trying to come in, but as the glass on my chandelier started to clink, I realized that everything was shaking. I must say that even as the understanding dawned on me that it was an earthquake I was entirely calm. Okay, here we go. I thought.
It didn't last long. It felt a lot like that June 2010 Central Canada Earthquake in some ways -- or any other earthquake I've felt in Ottawa, for that matter. However, unlike in Ottawa, in Kathmandu one cannot assume that a little shake is just that. Here, a little shake could always mean that the big shake is about to come.
Luckily, we have been trained well by out earthquake savvy colleagues: we got up, got dressed (roughly speaking), got our UN radios and got out. We weren't the only ones. The Korean couple that lives below us exited fully prepped with their stocked GO-Bag in tow. That definitely made us feel a touch under-prepared for the potential devastation we had been warned about since our arrival. I can't tell you how many times I have heard: "Kathmandu is sitting on a Fukashima earthquake with the vulnerability of Port au Prince."
Anyway, we waited outside for bout 30 minutes, listened to updates on the radio channel designated to security, and hoped that it hadn't been a foreshock for the monster earthquake we had been warned to await.
.JPG)
In the end it was just a small one, and we went back inside after some time. It definitely wasn't the easiest, or deepest sleep any of us has ever had in our lives though, I can tell you that much. The next day Taryn and I agreed that we should get ourselves properly prepared: bring our own GO-Bags home from the office, stock them with some of our own necessities and not leave the apartment in pajamas and flip flops next time...
At some point I might have to change the name of this blog to "I'm Still Alive, In Kathmandu!"
