Sarah's+Story

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Early one morning (3:00 am) we were on vacation with Taylor's family in San Francisco, California, and I had been having a sleepover with Caroline and Taylor and we were watching, "Haunting in Salem," a horror movie. The same thing we do every weekend... but this weekend was different. As soon as we fell asleep we were awoken with a big shake and a loud boom. We were all so scared and we didn't know what to do. The shaking continued for 5 more seconds and then stopped. We didn't know what was going on... Until I remembered what we were learning about in science class. Bingo! An earthquake had just awaked us! All of a sudden a smaller, weaker earthquake happened. Was another earthquake happening? Oh wait! Mr. Froberg told us that after a big earthquake there are usually smaller earthquakes called aftershocks. Also, the power went out... Could this be any worse? Now we cant watch TV or cook dinner. We go outside to see if there is any damage and Whoa! Were sinking! There must be **liquefaction**. The new garden that the condo had just created is ruined and it’s all mud. Also, a lot of the houses and buildings were ruined. We run back inside and we run to the basement because that’s the safest place to go when there is an earthquake. Taylor's parents weren't home and there was no power so all we could do was wait. Wait for her parents and the power. Finally Taylor's parents called and they told us that they told us that the **P waves** had hit us and the **S waves** were soon to come. The power just came back on and we turned on the news. They said that the secondary waves were coming soon and that 1,000’s of people don’t have power. They also said that the **Mercalli scale** was VII. Woah! I think the S waves just arrived because there was just another earthquake. There was just a knock at the door. So we go up and open the door and its Andrew. What is he doing in San Francisco? Andrew said that he was also on vacation with his family but during the earthquake his hotel crumbled and he couldn't find his family so he was looking for some place to go. When we went outside to check out the damage Andrew saw us and he came to the door right when we went inside. We couldn't hear the doorbell ring because the power went out so thats why we finally heard him. So we let him come inside and he got his phone and asked if he could charge it because it died and he needed to call his family and find where they were. They are safe and there on there way to pick him up. Again, another earthquake. This was the **surface** ** waves. **We look on the television and the news caster says that the **magnitude** of the **Richer scale** was 8.5. In the middle of us watching the news Taylor's parents called and they got me, Caroline, Taylor and her family plane tickets to go back to Boston. They are driving to the condo so we have to back our bags and wait for them to come. Finally, they are here and we can get back home to Boston! =====