A Person's First Hand Account Of Living Through The Chile Earthquake

We ran across this personal account earlier today and felt compelled to share it:

Tremors are common here in Chile and most of the time they are mild and last for only a few seconds. Last night was different. It was aproximately [sic] 03:30 AM when it began. The aluminium [sic] frames of my 2 big windows in my bedroom began to rattle a lot so I put my hands on them to try and quiet them down. Meanwhile my wife jumps out of the bed to see the kids my computer monitor starts to shake like crazy, turns on lighting up the room, the movement of the mouse had woken it up. Speakers, picture frames begin to fall and all sorts of noises started occuring [sic] mainly glass and objects falling everywhere. Suddenly the power goes down, car alarms go off and generators from surrounding buildings begin to work. At this point I try to exit my room towards my family when dizziness kicks in. It's hard to walk and I'm in awe to see my solid apartment move like thin cardboard. I manage to get out the room to check my family. I make it to the hallway where we all stick together hugging each other waiting for the earthquake to end. My cat starts emmiting [sic] a strange growl and the sounds of glass and all sorts of things falling in the dark is unnerving. Finally the 8.8 magnitude quake comes to an end and though it was around a minute or so, it felt like 5 minutes. My apartment ended in good shape with minor cracks, broken pots and a few things on the floor mainly in the bathroom and kitchen. It was a very intense experience I'll never forget.

These words were posted on Reddit today. We'll try to reach out to the individual.

Dear Reddit. I'm from Chile and would like to share my 8.8 magnitude earthquake experience with you. [Reddit]