Surviving 8.8 Santiago, Chile

While en route to South America for a much-anticipated vacation cruise from Chile to Brazil, my wife informed me that Chile was known to have earthquakes. How right she was, but at the time it didn’t really dawn on me that we might actually experience an earthquake. After all, what were the odds that one would occur during our brief, four-day visit?

We awoke in our El Cajon home at 7:OO a.m. and departed San Diego at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday February 25. We arrived in Santiago, Chile around 08:00 a.m. Friday, February 26. We planned to rest after the long 17 hours of travel and then enjoy touring Santiago until the cruise sailed on March 2. Upon arrival in Santiago, we eagerly walked through the long airport corridors, waited for our luggage, waited in lines to pay the Chilean entry fees, waited in lines to clear immigration customs, and waited in still more lines for agriculture inspection. Then we headed past the airport shops and restaurants to the ground transportation exit. Little did we know that within hours that airport building’s ceiling would collapse.

A physician and his wife, who had previously taken a similar tour, had advised us to arrange for a car from the hotel to pick us up at the airport. We did this and had an email confirmation in hand upon our arrival. However, at the airport passenger exit, our driver was nowhere to be seen. Many taxi drivers held up their signs for transportation, but not one from our hotel. We were “helped” by a taxi supervisor who arranged for transportation in a vintage mini van, which took us to the Grand Hyatt Santiago Hotel. He assured us we were being charged $25. We later figured out, much to our surprise, that we had been “had.” The cost was actually $85. We stared out the windows as we travelled the highway that went through long tunnels, and we eagerly took in the countryside with its vineyards and housing developments, and shanty housing along the riverbeds. Later, much of this road would not be passable.

We arrived at our hotel about 10:00 a.m. and were checked into the Club level, where there were computers, wifi, newspapers, a breakfast food and beverage buffet, fresh cut flowers, and a spectacular view of Santiago with the Andes Mountains rising beyond the city. I was too exhausted to fully enjoy this, but with the help of the concierge, we made dinner reservations for 7:30 p.m. that evening at a good local seafood restaurant. We were travel-weary, and we hoped to eat early, but this is South America and the restaurants do not even open until 07:30 p.m.

Our room became available at 11:30 a.m., and by 11:31 a.m. I was in bed, sleeping. We awoke around 5:30 p.m., and we were still too tired to get dressed and go out to dinner, so we cancelled our dinner reservations and ordered food from room service. After eating, we went back to sleep. My jet lag made it hard to sleep soundly, so I read part of John Grisham’s latest book of short stories about Ford County and then doze off to sleep again.

My wife woke me up around 2:00 a.m. with loud moans. That sudden wake up frightened me because at first I didn’t know what was hurting her. She was having severe leg cramps. After I massaged her calf muscles and the cramps eased, I read a little more and went back to sleep. I thought all the drama was over for the night!

Around 3:34 a.m. the room suddenly began to shake like a typical earthquake in California, and then it began to lurch. Every few seconds it got stronger and more violent. Things began to shift and fall within our room. The electricity went out, and the city darkened. The shaking just continued to get more violent, and the building swayed more with each jolt of the earthquake. Bits of ceiling plaster started to shower down onto the bed. The building groaned with popping and cracking noises. Within a few seconds it got worse, as if we were on a ship in a very stormy sea. It continued for another 30 seconds with the swaying getting more and more exaggerated. At the extreme of each sway, I worried that the building would start to fracture and collapse. These were truly the longest 90 seconds of my life. The odor of plaster dust was heavy in the air, but, fortunately, there was no smell of smoke. I have lived in California for 37 years and never felt tremors like these.

We grabbed our carry-on bags, which were still packed with our travel essentials, and headed into the corridor. It was fairly dark. My wife exited to the left, and when I got out I went out right. She called to me, so I retraced my steps in her direction. I used a mini flashlight to navigate the dimly lit corridor. At the end of the corridor was the emergency stairway down. It was an orderly and very hurried evacuation. All the guests moved as if they were racing for an Olympics gold medal. After descending about four stories, a hotel worker appeared and helped my wife with her bag. At about half way down, another Hyatt employee helped me by carrying my bag, which sped up our descent in the stairwell. The dim emergency lighting was adequate, but my wife did miss a step and started to stumble. Thankfully, another guest helped support her. We exited the building and we were instructed to walk away from the structure. About 300 guests congregated in the dark a block from the hotel. Everyone had stunned looks on their faces. Many guests were barefoot, and some men were not wearing shirts. It was now 4:00 a.m., and we had a clear sky and a fairly full moon. It was about 60° but getting colder. In less that an hour, hotel employees came out to us with bottled water and towels for warmth. Around 4:30 a.m. the sky lit up twice in the distance with what we later found out to be fireballs from explosions at a chemical factory.

We established a quick friendship with a man and woman from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He had a Blackberry phone like mine and an iPhone as well. He offered the iPhone and helped me send an email to our daughter. (The Blackberrys didn’t work.) This couple had a daughter, whom he was trying to contact, who was flying home that morning from her premedical program in Providence, Rhode Island. . He told us he was a graduate of Stanford and is the CFO of a large Brazilian bank. Their kindness to us was so appreciated.

It seemed like all of the guests were trying to use their cell phones at the same time. It was a wasted effort. The Internet was down, and the phones lines were congested, so most calls could not be sent or received. Eventually, I was able to leave a voice message on my daughter’s cell phone and explained what was happening in Chile and that we were safe. Around this time the electricity came on in this area of the city.

Around 6:00 a.m. we where escorted to a hotel ballroom, a three-story building adjacent to the main 19-story tower of the hotel, where we were served breakfast and given access to rest rooms. We sat with our new friends from Brazil and shared our experiences. They where staying on the third floor, so they had an easier exit from the building. Something had fallen on her leg, but she was not seriously injured. We bonded and tried to help each other. Just talking to each other was a great comfort. They told us about their recent trip to Rhode Island and the four days of snow that kept them inside their hotel.

After one especially strong aftershock, one of which felt like a major earthquake of about 5 or 6, we and many other hotel guests decided to exit the ballroom and wait outside of the building. We carried our chairs with us and camped in the driveway where it felt safer. The hotel had minivans pull up in the driveway for anyone who needed a more indoor environment since the sun had not yet come up and the temperature was still in the 50°s. Blankets where handed out, and finally the sun rose and the outdoors warmed up.

A manager announced that the hotel was being inspected, room by room, and that it would start to reopen for occupancy in about an hour. The guests cheered and applauded the good news. As each floor was cleaned up and cleared for occupancy, a staff member would escort guests back to their rooms. The hotel staff was just wonderful to us throughout this eight-hour ordeal. Our new friends got their room first and invited us to stay with them in their suite, as our floor had not yet been approved for occupation. However, we did not want to impose. This generous couple gave us their business card and told us to contact them if we had any problems in Latin America.

The main lobby elevators where not working, but one freight elevator was in service, so around 11:00 a.m. we were escorted to our room. We passed the Club lounge on our floor, which was deserted and had plaster dust everywhere and some broken lamps. Many cracks in the walls and windows where evident, but only two windows fell out. From our room we once again had a spectacular view of the city, which gradually faded as the smoke from the chemical fire obscured the view of the mountains in the distance.

Fortunately, no one at the hotel seemed to have any serious injuries. However, our aging leg muscles where sore from descending the 16 stories! We asked to be moved to a lower floor in case we had to exit again, but the hotel was completely full. Some of the hotel guests, especially the elderly, chose to sleep on the couches in the lobby that night. We knew we would not sleep well 16 floors up, and we did awaken a few times during the aftershocks.

While we were outside, the hotel staff had picked up our fallen suitcases and cleaned up the fallen objects in our room. Soon, another elevator was working. Later, the water in the room was back on for showering and the room TV, which had been unplugged, could be reconnected. The room phone was working on and off during the day and the hotel Internet was temporarily out of service. Around 10:00 p.m. a staff member helped us to log onto a computer in the business centre so we could communicate with family and friends. Gradually, my BlackBerry phone started sending and receiving emails.

We learned the extent of the quake damage on CNN as did the rest of the world. The TV informed us of the rising death toll throughout Chile and showed the areas of devastation, chemical fires, and collapsed roads. Everyone was shocked and saddened by the damages, injuries, and deaths. Many of the hospitals were in the older areas of Santiago and had tremendous damage. They had to close and evacuate the patients. Many of the majors roads where damaged or blocked. The airport was closed but helicopters flew over the city assessing the damages.

This misadventure was not the peaceful stay in Santiago that we anticipated, and surely one we will never forget. Our sympathy goes out to the many families involved in this tragedy.

TRAVEL ADIVICE

• Stay in shape to be able to descend many flights of stairs.
• Stay on the lower floors in the hotels just in case of disaster evacuation.
• Carry a pocket flashlight.
• Learn the money conversion rate before entering a foreign country.
• Listen to your wife’s concerns and intuition.