Month: January 2020

Tuesday

7: 05. Driving to school I was struck by the sight of the sea. I had never seen the sea look so calm. It was like a mirror. Not even a ripple. The sunrise looked amazing, all pinks and there was a corona around the sun.

I mentioned it to one of my teachers. She looked at me and totally seriously said, ‘something is coming’.

She said last time she had seen the sea the way I described there had been a quake.

I thought no more of it and went about my day.

2:15. I stepped out of my office and suddenly felt dizzy, off balance, that feeling when a lift lurches downwards suddenly. ‘I shouldn’t have had that third coffee’ I thought thinking it was a caffeine rush.

Then I realised the whole building was moving. I could see the whole thing swaying. It was like it stretched away imperceptibly and then snapped back. It was strangest sensation like being in treacle.

Earthquake!

I grabbed the school PA system and called ‘duck, and cover’.

Staff were brilliant every child went under a table.

The quake lasted 1.5 to 2 minutes. The whole world roiling and liquid. The sense of vertigo and nausea all pervading.

Then as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

I signalled the evacuation of the building.

Staff and students cleared the building in about two minutes.

Once outside we checked everyone was accounted for.

All safe!

Then came the call from the government. A tsunami alert had just come into effect.

My school is built as a shelter and designed to ride out quakes and to offer protection against tsunami.

So, back into the building we filed and to the hall. Our strongest and safest room.

Staff led songs. A nervous hour passed as the wave passed us by. Parents arrived and joined us. But thank goodness due to the deep water that surrounds us we are well protected against waves. The trench absorbs the energy of incoming waves.

At 3:30 came the all clear and we began to send children home.

We have felt aftershocks all afternoon, six so far, the largest magnitude 6.5., 10 times less than the first quake which measured magnitude 7.7.

We are expecting more aftershocks through the night.

All around the island potholes opened up, wells and boreholes erupted like fountains, swimming pools sloshed their contents out, pictures fell from walls and in shops shelves collapsed.

So far there are no reports of anyone being hurt though my friend Paul has suffered the loss of his gin glasses.

This was the second largest earthquake in the Caribbean in the past 176 years, only the Dominican Republic 8.1 magnitude event on 4 August 1946 was bigger.

The last big earthquake in Cayman Islands was in 2004 when the Islands were hit by a once in 440 year magnitude 5.9 quake.

The last earthquake of 7.0+ in the Caribbean Basin, felt in the Cayman Islands, was on 12 January 2010, at 7.1 magnitude. The earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010, killing more than 200,000 people, was a magnitude 7.0 event.

So how come we came off so lightly?

Luck. Blind luck.

The epicentre of Tuesday’s quake was 70 miles from land and the fault occurs where two plates move laterally past each other, where two plates are sliding past each other rather than directly into each other causing an up thrust. The 2010 earthquake that impacted Haiti occurred inland rather than out at sea.

https://www.caymancompass.com/2020/01/28/7-7-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-cayman/

Wednesday

7:05. An uneventful night.

The water is off, or at least pressure is so low it might as well be.

School is closed.

So day off.

 

For years I have wanted to experience one of the world’s great rail journeys. I have had a desire to pack a light bag, climb on a train, sit back and watch the world go by. Lost in thought and looking at the vista.

Be it across Russia; through Europe to Asia Minor or East to West Across Canada the idea of sitting on a train watching the country, rivers, towns and cities role by. Looking out at the sea or at mountains and the endless miles is an idea that has fascinated me for years.

Travelling over Europe, America or Australia by plane is mesmerising but I have always wanted to see the detail, to get a real sense of the scale of the world in a way that clouds obscure.

Not for me a holiday on a stately ship or floating hotel. The idea of travelling on a cruise ship leaves me cold.

No for me it is the train that calls with its sense of getting lost and actually seeing a country or continent unfurl mile by endless mile.

This summer James turns 18 so he and I are going to take the plunge and do it.

Our plan at the minute is to fly to Houston or Atlanta. Hop on the train and travel overland to LA. A couple of days in LA and San Francisco before taking the coastal train and following the West Coast all the way to Seattle.

From Seattle taking the Northern Route to Chicago and then on to Washington before following the East Coast down to New Orleans and back to our starting point.

A circumnavigation of the USA by rail over 15 days.

There are some great forums to help with the planning, with useful tips like:

You need to board the “Sunset Limited” in Houston, Tx, which is scheduled to depart at 9:50 p.m. Instead of starting the rail pass in Houston, you pay $31 extra to ride the train to San Antonio. Your Rail Pass (which you purchased in Houston) does not go into effect until the next day (at San Antonio), giving you 22 extra hours to complete your trip.

So now we begin the planning in earnest working out the details and dates. But James is excited and really wants to see America. The first step is rail passes. An Amtrak 15-day pass coast around $450 (£350) a bargin and a great place to begin.