Tremors, Tremors, Please Go Away!

Today we've had two strong tremors here in Iquique. The first was around 1:45, just before the girls got out of school. Apparently it measured between 4.9 - 5.6 on the Richter scale (depending on reports.) I was at home taking a nap with Owen on the third floor where the shaking can be felt pretty strongly. I grabbed him and ran down to the first floor, but he hardly noticed and just kept sleeping when I put him back in bed a few minutes later. I was concerned that the girls might be frightened at school, but when they arrived shortly afterward all they said was that they had to file out to the school playground and kneel down with their hands on their heads. "We didn't even feel anything," they assured me when I asked if they were scared.

The second tremor was just a few minutes ago, and it felt hard and long. (Edited to add: First reports say 6.3 on the Richter.) Pedro was at the grocery store and said that no one seemed panicked; everyone just stopped and waited to see what would happen (while a few items did fall off the shelves.) I was pretty nervous at home when the shaking didn't stop immediately. I ran up the stairs to the second floor where the kids were sleeping and stood in the doorway calling for them but no one woke up! The pictures were rattling on the walls and I was mentally debating whether to wake them up and carry them downstairs, where it's not safe in the front yard and I wasn't sure about the back, or to just let them sleep through it all. Fortunately, the tremor ended and I didn't have to decide.

I called my dad in the States to ask him to pray that these two aren't warnings of a bigger one to come (our family experienced an 8.0 earthquake in Chile in 1985 so my parents know how it feels!) Pedro called me shortly afterwards, but couldn't get through on the cell because lines were jammed. Thankfully all is well for now.