The Manicou Report

At 9:08 this morning 29th September I saw my life flash before my eyes. This after Trinidad & Tobago was hit by a major earthquake measuring 6.1 (or 6.0 depending on which scientist you ask) on the Richter scale. The quake was centred 25 miles NW of Port of Spain.

That was the news report, now hear what really happen.

Star showing center of activity

I sit down my desk, I just finished replying to comments left on the blog, and I was in the midst of writing a post on a story I had just read in the Guardian, when I feel like the house shaking. 1 second later I realize it was an earthquake. So I say, ok it must be one of them jokey 4.0 earthquake we does get so I will sit it out. Then all of a
sudden thing get strong. The whole house start to shake like mad. Allyuh I was actually hearing the rumbling. Then all of a sudden I hear things downstairs start falling and crashing. Now by this time I done leave my desk and call out to my mother to come downstairs. So I start heading downstairs to sit under the dining room table (which is our agreed upon earthquake sanctuary), but I could hardly walk. Because when I tell allyuh shake, is real shake for true. The whole staircase was swaying like a rope bridge (and the thing is the steps done slippery already). All this time I hearing thing crashing, and the truth was I thought the house was coming down. Because I have never in my whole life felt anything like that. When I tell you I bawling out Jesus name, I eh lie you know. I calling Jesus like is first time.

So I am sitting under the table and hearing things falling down all around me and I am just waiting to hear a concrete wall crumble and the wood floors to just give way under me. Because not only is the earthquake strong, but it going on forever. We sitting there and is like the thing just won’t end. It just kept rumbling, and rumbling. You hearing children from the primary school nearby bawling for dear life. I began thinking about recent earthquakes in Turkey, Iran and Pakistan and I start wondering just how bad is this thing going to be? Is this the big one?

I don’t know if anyone has ever experienced anything like it but let me tell you something, it’s a very unnerving experience, because there are so may things you just don’t know. You know know if it’s going to get stronger, how long it’s going to last, is your house going to start crumbling on top of you? You sit there and wait till it has its way and maybe you’ll be alive still when it’s all over.

Nevertheless, in about 15-20 seconds it was all over. It may have been sooner, but I was trembling so hard it was hard to figure out when it had actually ended. We got out from under the table to see that vases and picture frames had fallen of shelves, and a very secure oven door was flung open and still swinging. But surprisingly, nothing was broken. Across at the primary school, all the children and their teachers came out into the yard still looking a little wobbly.

Surprisingly there was no damage to our house, which I am quite frankly shocked at, considering the beating it had taken. On the CNC3 midday news, they reported that the roof of the President’s House was damaged. Also they showed us a spot on one of the twin towers where a window pane had popped out and was hanging from the frame. CNC3 also showed us scenes where hundreds of office workers were milling about on the Promenade, post-earthquake.

On the radio a woman said that the quake was so bad that it shoved her car over onto the shoulder, and that other drivers whose cars were also affected by the quake thought that they had been hit from behind.

The thing I was mad about, however, was that power went out for about 2 hours, which made it impossible for me to blog about it till almost 1 pm. It’s funny but the first thing that came to my mind following the quake was “I have to blog this”.

Well it all turned out fine. There doesn’t seem to be any injuries as of yet and all dog, cyat and rat seem to be doing ok. It’s back to normal. Peace.

*So we got hit by a second quake that the seismologists are referring to as an “aftershock”. For my money that could have been a whole other earthquake. Here I am at about 2:30 sitting at my desk again trying to type up a letter, when I feel like someone picks up my house and the drops it back down and starts shaking it again. This time I am all along and I run under the dining room table again to wait it out. Thank God that it doesn’t last as long as the first one (it lasted maybe 8-10 seconds). Of course I stayed sitting under the table for another 2 minutes to make sure it was over. I spoke to my neghbour after the second one and she said she had the same sensation of being lifted and dropped. We had a series of smaller afershocks afterwards, some of which I felt. Seismologists say that we could get yet another aftershock, which will be smaller between 5.3 and 5.1 - of course these are the same people who say earthquakes can’t be predicted. So I’m still jittery from the whole drama and I think it would be a while before i get over it.