Notes

Massiel Garriga
ENC1101-870137
September 12th 2015
“My Most Frightening Day”

Who would not love an amazing vacation in California? Indeed, it sounds wonderful; however, my experience was not like that at all. I have always panic when it comes to natural disasters, and that particular State is infamous because of all the earthquakes that occurs nearby and so often. An earthquake is a sudden and most of the time violent shaking of the ground, consequently causing considerable damage to the earth crust affecting buildings, roads, and even people. As a matter of fact, this terrible seismic activity is caused by volcanic action and/or motion within the tectonic plates. Eventually, before I went off to vacation, I did not do my research, until the incident happened ruining it all.
It was June 17th, 2011, around noon. I was enjoying the sunny weather in the backyard of my uncle’s spectacular vacation home, when it all begun suddenly. I saw a fleet of birds flying towards east; nevertheless, I did not pay attention and that was when I felt quite a small shaking underneath my feet. Afterwards, I was so confused and concerned due to the fact that I had never experienced a tremor ever before. Soon after, an another shock occurred making me fall on the ground, at this level I was terrified of what was happening, I remember my family screaming and everyone running towards the sidewalks coming out of their homes.
Furthermore, when we thought that everything was back to normal, the main shock happened, it was extremely brusque, it lasted about one minute, when we got back on our feet, there was a crack in the middle of the street almost dividing both sidewalks, but finally it appeared to be finished.
Notwithstanding that the earthquake had pass, everyone still nervous and frightened. My mom got injured when she fell down to the ground. Ambulances were parked outside my house and paramedics were aiding everybody. Police officers took over control and put caution tape around the big cleft, so that nobody would get hurt. It was a very horrifying afternoon; hence, I didn’t sleep that night.
Undoubtedly, it is the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life; therefore, I am never going back to California. It’s not a lie that I had fun, but just until the earthquake happened. I feel that I am always going to be traumatized by it, and not just me, but also my family. It really was my most frightening day.