|
From thebahamasweekly.com - Local
Local businessman, Theo Tsavoussis was finishing a week's vacation in Chile and was only one day away from returning to his home in The Bahamas when the devastating 8.8 earthquake hit and since displaced 1.5 million people. Tsavoussis gives an account of his experience during the earthquake, "I was fast asleep on the second floor of a friend's house when the bed began to shake. I sat up half asleep wondering what was going on. All of a sudden the the entire house started to shake violently. We were in the mountains and the sound was so loud and terrible, like thunder that wouldn't stop." "It finally dawned on me that it was an earthquake. I jumped up and tried to walk, but it was impossible. The house was now swaying back and forth about a foot each second. Every time I tried to take a step my foot would land wrong. It was like trying to walk on the deck of a boat in rough sees. I kept thinking that the roof was going to cave in. I also kept thinking when would it stop? It had been going now for almost three minutes (though it felt much longer). I made it down the stairs and out the front door. What I saw was completely surreal; everything was dancing," he continues. "The shakes finally stopped, but soon after started again, not so strong this time, and not as long. These aftershocks went on all night and continued for days." "I was surprised to hear my cell phone ring about an hour after the quake. It was a friend in the US who had heard on the radio that Chile had just experienced an 8.8 magnitude earthquake. That was how we found out how powerful it was. Five hundred times more powerful than the one that hit Haiti!"
Surprisingly power did not go off during the earthquake where I was (about 200 miles from the quake's epicenter) but about ten minutes after it stopped. Water and land lines were also off when we checked in the morning." "I was scheduled to leave that day but knew the airport would be closed,and it remained closed for 5 days. I was flying American Airlines and your destination meant nothing, as there was only one line for each airline. For American the lineup was almost 500 people long, wrapping around buildings and down the street. A 5 hour check-in time was implemented. When we drove into Santiago thousands of people were camping in the airport parking lot trying to leave the country." When asked if he would return to Chile, Tsavoussis replied, "Chile is a beautiful country and I have no qualms in returning."
© Copyright 2010 by thebahamasweekly.com - |
