Stephanie Metzger

Coming from the midwest, I was always curious about what earthquakes felt like. Of course I have never wanted to experience a severe one, but before coming to Peru I was wanting to experience one that was small enough but at the same time being able to recognize that it is an earthquake. Well I got my wish! And might I add that I’m okay with that being my last earthquake to experience! It was so crazy! It was a little after midnight and I was in bed just getting ready to fall asleep. I heard a car drive by our neighborhood and the house shook a little, and my initial thought was wow that must have been a semi to make the house shake that much. Then after that, I realized that the car had passed and the house was still shaking. The next thing I knew my bed was shaking and the windows were rattling. Right after that, I knew for sure it was an earthquake. I immediately jumped out of the bed, and panicked. I heard my host mom yell from upstairs, “Temblor! Temblor!” (which is Spanish for earthquake). I was mainly panicking because I had no clue what procedure to take. Was I supposed to crouch down by the wall with my hands over my head? Or is that only for tornadoes? For everybody that doesn’t know, earthquake drills are not usually very common in Nebraska, but that was definitely a time where I wish it would have been! After about a minute, the earthquake passed and my host mom checked on my host siblings and me to see if we were okay. She couldn’t help but notice the freightened look on my face and said, “It’s okay. It was just a small one.” I looked it up the next day and it was a 6.4 magnitude that hit the coast just south of Lima. The next day my host brother, Diego, told me a story about how Lima had a terremoto(a strong earthquake) when he was just getting ready to take his test in English class(in which he didn’t prepare for). He said that when it struck, the floor in his classroom moved in one big wave and then it was over. They all ran out of the building in order to avoid the aftershock and the test was cancelled. He said that he has never been more happy to have an earthquake, because it got him out of taking the test. His story definitely added humor into the situation and made me feel all the more better. That day we also went over what to do in situations like that, so now I know to stand under the doorway until the earthquake passes, then immediately go outside. So if there may be another one, I will for sure be prepared this time!