Andrew's+Story

Early one morning I was fast asleep bundled up under my covers when I was awakened by my bed shaking. Since my father is a seismologist, I soon realized that the earthquake has just struck and the **P waves** have just hit. I also realize that the **S waves** are soon to come. I live on the ocean so there is probably the risk of a **tsunami** occurring, therefor I think I should evacuate. Soon after I was outside watching my house crumble into pieces. We were standing on the beach when I realized that I was knee-deep in the sand. I was stunned at first but then I knew that **liquefaction** was taking place because of the fast shaking caused by the earthquake. I looked over at my Dad and he was giving CPR on a woman that was unconscious. There were houses collapsing all around me so I decided to run farther towards the water. Earlier in the week my parents and I were eating breakfast and my Dad told me about this knew building in town that has just been completed. It wasn't just an ordinary building, it was called a **Base- isolated building** which mean that it can withstand an earthquake better. I thought for a moment and then gave a holler to my Dad and told him that we should probably head on down to that new building in town. When we got to the new building, we ran inside and laid down under a table and prayed that nothing would fall on us. My Dad then told me that the **aftershocks** were beginning to hit. After about 30 seconds of shaking, it began to stop. I looked up and saw that CNN news broadcasting center was right across the street from where my parents and I were. A few minuets later, my family and i were walking through CNN's door to see that they were broadcasting. CNN's building must have been a base-isolated building because only a camera and a few other things were damaged. A producer told us to go into their earthquake evacuation room. When we got into the earthquake evacuation room i saw there were a couple of papers on a desk. I went over to take a closer look at them and saw that they had the **mercalli** rating of the earthquake on them. This earthquake was bigger then i thought, it had a mercalli rating of IX or nine. A few minutes later the emergency services came and started doing tests on us to make sure we are healthy and okay. They also explained to us that there is a risk of having aftershocks later in the week but we are free to leave. The moment my family and I got home we sa w a pile of rubble. My heart dropped.media type="youtube" key="OkL0ClOpFcQ" height="315" width="420" align="right"