Notes from Nepal
Had an earthquake last night. I was cooking southern baked beans from scratch after we discovered a smoked ham hoc for sale by a Russian couple at an organic Sunday market up the way. The pressure cooker had just started to hiss when the room started rockin. We live on the 4th, 5th, and 6th floors of a concrete apartment building with another family below. We could hear them yelling to get out. My friend Michelle in one swift motion swiped up her 3-year old, Alice, and started bolting down the stairs – which were shaking noticeably. Our Oklahoma 25 year-old volunteer paused and ran back to turn off the gas on the beans. She was braver than I was because I was right behind Michelle. We all spilled into the street with everyone else and watched the lamp posts dance for about another 30 seconds. Took about five minutes for everyone to calm down and start back up the stairs. Reports were that a much larger earthquake in India at around 6.9 sent waves down a shared fault line. Rough estimates are that by the time it hit the city it was at about 4.5. An already crumbling wall at the British embassy collapse and reports are that it killed 11.
Photo from the web.
