Harmony In Chaos Travel

Crack by the connecting door in our hotel room caused by the 8.3 earthquake that rocked Chile last night

Since September is national preparedness month, I've decided to start my blog off with a topic that I hadn't honestly thought about in relation to travel before last night: being prepared for emergencies.

Last night when the earthquake hit, I had already gotten my older two kids into bed. I was nursing my baby and she was almost asleep when the movement started. I honestly didn't think a whole lot about what was going on but when the earthquake hadn't stopped after 30 seconds or so, I took the baby into the room where the older kids were sleeping and tried to wake them to get them into a safer space. Both kids were solidly asleep and I couldn't get them to budge so I just stayed in the room with them so I could calm them in case they did wake up.

It was a very noisy experience. The pictures were banging against the wall, the windows were rattling, a lamp fell over, and the walls were creaking. I think the first quake lasted close to two minutes.

At this point, I wasn't sure what kind of earthquake precautions there might have been in the area. I knew that in many countries in South America, there can be major problems cause by earthquakes and buildings can collapse. I was worried about the possibility of having to evacuate the hotel with my three kids so I spent some time and threw together a quick "go bag" just in case we did have to leave. It didn't take too long to throw some basic things together. I was much more calm once I had a plan in place and a bag packed.

There were a number of aftershocks, some were quite strong. Each one sent a shock through my body and I was tense and worried that an even bigger quake might be coming. Sleep didn't come easily last night.

All in all, it was an exciting night. I've never actually dealt with a natural disaster while traveling so I guess it was about time. Since the big earthquake last night, there have been just under 70 aftershocks. I feel as if the earth has been trembling all day. As nerve wracking as the night was, I'm glad to have had the experience since it started me thinking about important safety topics.

I hope you will join me through out this next week as I explore different ways that we can be prepared for an emergency while traveling!