Nicaragua: She moves like this
So there I was at approximately 5:30pm, sitting in the second-story volunteer lounge at the Peace Corps office, fine-tuning a presentation for the following morning. I just had a few changes to make and then I would be done for the day. I looked up from my computer screen and glanced at the framed Barack Obama poster hanging on the wall. It was shaking. Then the doors on the lockers started clanging open and shut, a flower pot fell off a shelf and broke on the floor, and my hunch was confirmed: earthquake.
We evacuated the building and waited in the parking lot. Apart from items that fell off the walls and off of shelves, there was no structural damage to the building. Once the power came back an hour or so later, we received word that the Richter called it a 6.2.
The rest of the night continued with smaller aftershocks. Once phones were able to connect again I checked in with my host family "back home." They said it was felt even 300 kilometers from the epicenter, and that our microwave fell off the top of the refrigerator. Despite that, everything and everyone was okay.
We continue to feel waves of aftershocks, and while out to lunch a few hours ago we felt another tremor. This one they say was a 6.6 and the epicenter was about 80 kilometers southeast of Managua.
The upcoming week (being Holy Week) is when travel is at its peak in Nicaragua. Hopefully the seismic activity cools off a bit so that a safe week can be enjoyed by all.
There's not a whole lot we can do besides remain calm and keep informed. You can stay posted on all the moving and shaking here.
We evacuated the building and waited in the parking lot. Apart from items that fell off the walls and off of shelves, there was no structural damage to the building. Once the power came back an hour or so later, we received word that the Richter called it a 6.2.
The rest of the night continued with smaller aftershocks. Once phones were able to connect again I checked in with my host family "back home." They said it was felt even 300 kilometers from the epicenter, and that our microwave fell off the top of the refrigerator. Despite that, everything and everyone was okay.
We continue to feel waves of aftershocks, and while out to lunch a few hours ago we felt another tremor. This one they say was a 6.6 and the epicenter was about 80 kilometers southeast of Managua.
The upcoming week (being Holy Week) is when travel is at its peak in Nicaragua. Hopefully the seismic activity cools off a bit so that a safe week can be enjoyed by all.
There's not a whole lot we can do besides remain calm and keep informed. You can stay posted on all the moving and shaking here.
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