Mark and I were hanging out on the couch. Our agenda for the day was trip planning. We had successfully booked flights to Munich for Oktoberfest and we had also managed to book our flights for Christmas: Tirana to Amsterdam for Christmas, then to Nairobi for a safari through the Kenyan jungle and onto Mombasa for the beach, finally to Frankfurt for a few days before heading back to Tirana just in time for the start of school. We were feeling pretty accomplished roundabout 3:30 when all of a sudden there was this noise and then shaking. Lots and lots of shaking. Initially I didn't know what was happening. Then I felt the couch moving under me and noticed the walls swaying. I knew something was happening, but I wasn't quite sure what. I hopped up off the couch. Mark said "come stand in the doorway, come stand in the doorway." We were there for 10 or so seconds before it stopped. Mark immediately started moving around the apartment saying "aftershock. we need to leave now in case of an aftershock." I didn't understand why we had to leave. Wasn't it over? I threw on jeans and a t-shirt with flip flops before Mark dragged me outside. We made it quickly down the four flights of stairs and when we got outside it felt surreal. The street was filled with people. It seemed like everyone had come out of their apartments. Mark didn't stop to stare and was ten paces in front of me before I caught up with him. Why did we have to leave our apartment? What was an aftershock? Where were we going? Mark finally slowed his pace near the bottom of our hill and as we walked toward the park, he began to answer some of my questions. We had to leave our apartment in case of an aftershock. An after shock is another earthquake that has the potential to be of a greater magnitude than the first. It may do damage to our building so we don't want to be inside. We stood in the doorway because usually doorways are doubly reinforced and therefore stand a greater chance of keeping us safe. (I have since looked this up and it is false-- do not stand in a doorway, rather get on the ground and take cover under a sturdy table). It was my first ever earthquake and there was a lot I didn't know. One thing I do know- I'm really glad Mark was there with me. We kept walking and finally stopped at an outdoor cafe for donuts and coffees (we deserved them after all!)
While there we found out that the epicenter of the quake was in Durres, a beach town about 32 kilometers from Tirana. The quaking lasted for about 30 seconds and was registered as a 5.6 on the richter scale. We stayed outside for three and a half or four hours, around which time I started to get cold and wanted to head back. If Mark had gotten his way he would've kept us out for the duration of the night, but I wanted to be home. Upon inspection of our apartment there were only two casualties- the pictures sitting on the wall shelving had all fallen and a glass shelf above our bathroom sink had tipped, causing all of the items on it to fall and shatter in our porcelain sink.
Our building did not seem to have any damage, however friends' buildings sustained damage to the outer concrete layers.
Overall I felt really lucky, but conflicted at the same time. I couldn't possibly know when another earthquake would happen, or what the magnitude would be, so I had to stop thinking about it. Yet, there was this looming feeling. Would there be another one? Where would we be? What if it were bigger? That evening I fell asleep on the couch. There was one more smaller quake that we could feel that Mark woke me up for. It didn't last nearly as long and the shaking was much, much less severe. Sunday came and went. Around 11:30 Sunday night I received a message stating we would not return to school until Wednesday as per the ministry of education. Score! I'd take two earthquake days. I was a little hesitant being in the apartment by myself when Mark left for work, but I decided to make the most of my day and went for a walk around the lake
(before it started pouring rain!) then I met Mark and friends for lunch at Duff in the afternoon. Once we found out we had the two days off I invited the staff to our apartment for a games night, however, midday on Monday we found out that we would be heading back to school Tuesday. Lame. So we rainchecked game night. I'm not hopeful for any more earthquake days, but I'll still cross my fingers so maybe this winter we'll have a snow day!
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