Earthquake In Guatemala 1976
One of the first difficult experiences we encountered in Guatemala happened February 4, 1976. Just six weeks after we had arrived.
February 3 had been a strange but beautiful day. It was hotter than usual, but there was absolutely no breeze. There is usually a soft breeze in Guatemala at any time, but this day the breeze was still, though the day was exceptionally beautiful.
Now the water in the colony where we were living was rationed on a daily basis. My in-laws had three families, made up of their married children and their families, living in their home, plus one daughter and her family living in the house next door.
At five o'clock in the morning and again at five o'clock in the afternoon the municipality would turn the water on for these two homes for one half hour each time. The rest of the day the water went to the other families living in the neighborhood, or colony as it is called.
The night before the earthquake, I was washing all the dirty dishes that had accumulated during the day. There was a little extra of the water that we had collected, left over from the day. I thought to myself, "I'll just give a little extra rinse to these dishes, after all we will collect some more tomorrow at five in the morning." Little did I imagine it would be about 3 days before we were to get water again.
I had an uneasy feeling that night as I prepared for bed. It was too quiet somehow, and yet the dogs all over were barking.
I lay in my bed and listened with a very uneasy feeling. Everyone in the house was asleep. For some reason that I couldn't explain, I felt that we were going to have an earthquake, but I didn't know why I felt that way.
Although I had, as I was accustomed to do, prayed before going to bed, I felt the urge to kneel by the side of my bed again in prayer.
I got out of bed and I knelt down. My prayer went something like this, "Oh God, I ask you not to let us have an earthquake this night, but if we do Lord, I ask that you will protect us through it."
Even as I prayed I argued with myself, why would I pray something like that? What was the chance of something like that happening to me? I'd seldom even felt a good jolt , maybe only once or twice in my entire life.
I returned to bed. Ever since I had arrived in Guatemala I had been having trouble sleeping. It was a hotter climate than I was used to, and there was a lot of noise from the street. My husbands family lived over the main street between town and the out lying regions of the country. Cars, trucks and busses moved noisily along it all night. This night I fell soundly to sleep.
I awoke a little after 3am. My husband was out of bed and it irritated me that he was disturbing my sleep. So I said, "Come back to bed and don't be disturbing my sleep." His reply was "We're having an earthquake and I'm afraid the roof is going to fall in on top of us." This he followed with a loud scream.
I felt so calm. I could feel the earth moving, but it felt almost like a roller coaster ride, almost pleasant. This is strange because I never like any amusement park rides, ever, much less the roller coaster.
I went to stand by the bunk beds where my two sons slept. I was afraid that the quake might over turn their beds and injure them. My oldest son asked me to move, because he also was afraid that the beds would over turn, but worried that I would get hurt.
When the quake ended I was about to return to bed. After all, the excitement was over and I was still tired.
Suddenly everyone in the house was calling, "get out! get out! There is always another quake after the first and many aftershocks, any of which may be worse than the first."
My husband ran to the door and yelled to me, "Get out, here's the door." and then he left, closing the door behind him.
The electricity in Guatemala has an emergency system that causes it to go off in case of an earthquake, to avoid electrical shocks and fires due to downed wires. I was suddenly alone in a dark room. I wasn't leaving without my children!
I felt my way over to their bed and found the youngest one still sleeping soundly. I awakened him and told him to get up and come with me. He answered, "Why do I have to go to school so early?" I looked for my older son and could not find him. I was unsure if he had gotten out of the room or not. I was all turned around and now I couldn't find the door.
Finally by feeling along the wall I could find the door and get it opened. I peered out into the darkened hallway. I could hear the family downstairs, all talking among themselves. There was no one else up stairs with me. I couldn't leave until I knew for sure that my son was safe. I begin to call to my husband, asking him if my son was with him. There was no answer. Again I called, repeating my question. Still no answer. I was alone, no one was listening to me, just my 6 year old son and I alone upstairs. What if the world began to move again? It was so dark, and everyone seemed so far away. I couldn't leave without knowing where my other son was, and yet, if there were another jolt right now, my younger son and I could be killed or seriously injured due to the weakened structure of the house. And so, I would have to wait.
Suddenly, at the end of the hall a light appeared. It moved silently through the dark as it drew closer. Then my precious 8 year olds face was looking up at me, and his hand was reaching out towards me as he said, "here I am mommy, take my hand. I'll lead you out."
When we arrived downstairs, everyone was gathered out in the patio in their night clothes. It was cold and they were all shivering. I looked up at the sky, the same sky that on so many nights had brought me so much comfort on nights when I sat on the roof of the house and looked up at the stars, and wondered if they also reached out to where my loved ones were in the United States. It was the first time I had lived out side of the states, and I had never been away from them for so long. I had always felt that the stars were my friends and a link to my family back home. Tonight as I looked up, I was surprised to see that they were even more beautiful than usual, and I couldn't help but somehow feel that they had betrayed me.
We hurried to our cars and moved them out into the street where we would be safe from falling objects if there were another jolt. My husband had a short and long wave radio in the car and we tried to find news about what was happening to us. The local stations were all off the air, and all the others, from distant places were playing music, going on with their usual activities. No one in the world had yet heard what had happened in Guatemala. We felt all alone in the cold dark world. And so we waited ....waited for morning,...waited for news. The night seemed so long. On the radio music from far away places played on and on, and we waited and prayed. What would the morning light reveal?
Slowly the morning came. Slowly the outside world began to give the news bulletins of the earthquake in Guatemala. It had measure 7.8 on the Richter scale. Many people were dead, many more homeless, it had taken place at 3:33am.
When we could finally get into the house, what a sight met our eyes. In the kitchen downstairs, everything was in the floor. The bottled water shattered in pieces. In the garage every thing had fallen out of the shelves, my father-in-laws car was completely hidden by the debris on top of it. The furniture in the living room had walked away from the wall and all in a mess in the middle of the room. In the little sitting room upstairs, lamps lay over turned and broken. In each of the bedrooms everything was in the floor, the drawers had come out of the chests and fallen to the floor scattering their belongings, the closet doors were open and everything lay in chaos in the middle of the floor, the beds tipped over, huge cracks were in the walls. What a mess, but, I you opened the door to our bed room, except for the beds being unmade, everything else was exactly as it had been when I finished straightening it up the day before. Even the ironing board was standing in the corner where it belonged with the iron sitting up on it's heel.
I know that the Lord was faithful to His promise and sent His angels to stand guard over us that night. The final death toll was 33,000 people killed. Many more were homeless, injured or orphaned on that night. There were hundreds of aftershocks. The people camped out in the streets for up to 3 months. It was very devastating.
I don't know why God saw fit to hold us so firmly in the palm of His hand that night. I certainly know, that we are a family like any other, no more spiritual than many who lost their lives. Whatever His reason I give Him praise. He used it to teach me to trust in Him. I have walked many roads, had many experiences, found myself in many problems of my own making, but His love, for His own purposes, has brought me through time after time.
"The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him." Nahum 1:7
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