Tremor time

At 13:29 yesterday a powerful tremor shook Guatemala, the 269th seismic event this year, and a peculiarly long-lasting one: 49.1 seconds.

The media seem to have finally agreed that it was a 5.4, though many had earlier reported it as anything between 6 and 7 on the Richter scale.

V was on the second floor of our house and bizarrely decided to run UP to the third floor terrace, figuring that if the whole thing gave way she'd rather be on top of the collapsing structure not underneath it. She ran straight into our builder Don Victor who had screamed "Terremotoooooo" before activating his exit strategy from the third floor studio. His momentum carried her down and out. She had time to spot the pila sloshing water everywhere.

When things finally settled down, they all felt "mareados" (seasick), she reported.

My sister-in-law Sandra was on the sixth floor of an office block in Guatemala City and was quite shaken by the way it swayed. From the window she could see other towers swaying in the heavy rain.

The regional summit of First Ladies taking place in Antigua Guatemala this week was also shaken up a bit.

Update: Guatemalan authorities have been moaning that CNN exacerbated the panic by immediately reporting this tremor as a significant earthquake.

I had been struggling to understand why so many people failed to evacuate the wobbly office blocks in Guatemala City "because it was raining outside", but my Brazilian friend TC has now adequately explained to me why having your hair and make-up ruined is far worse way to start the day than being crushed under a collapsing building!