Santiago, Chile -
You know how people say your life flashes before your eyes when you face a near-death experience? Jason Glode says it doesn't.
The 28-year-old originally from Pasadena was vacationing in South America, which included his final destination of Santiago, Chile. For a few days prior to his return flight, which was supposed to be Sunday, he and a friend Marie George would cap off an "extremely good" trip with some sightseeing of the capital city and surrounding mountains.
The experienced traveler said he was always aware of the dangers of spending time in foreign countries, just mostly concerns of encounters with troubled locals. However, his perception of that changed significantly, when one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded occurred off the coast of Chile early Saturday morning.
Glode and George were jolted out of their sleep by an alarm shortly after 3:30 a.m. The hotel then shook violently as they took cover. Glode scrambled to get under a desk - which in hindsight he realizes would have meant little if the seven floors above came crashing down - and George, who is from Nova Scotia and currently attending school in St. John's, went under a doorway - which she could barely maintain her balance with the movement.
"We never said much as the earthquake persisted," Glode wrote in an email to The Western Star, while awaiting a flight in Santiago Monday. "All I remember was hearing other people and the sound of the walls cracking and paint and concrete hitting the floor. All I remember thinking was what occurred in Haiti and, if this thing doesn't stop soon, this hotel is coming down."
Following the initial quake of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, they left the room and sat outside with sirens and alarms wailing away in the darkness. Knowing minimal Spanish, finding any information was difficult.
"It was so surreal, we could just sit there and thank f**k we survived," Glode said.
After an hour or so, emergency officials told them to return to their hotels and they reluctantly returned to their rooms - which had sustained cracks across the roof and down the walls and concrete lay on the floor. The remainder of a restless night was filled with aftershocks and thoughts of evacuation.
"It was weird, you could feel the earth moving through your bed ...," he said. "It had us on pins and needles."
Flights were grounded due to the damage at the airport and, as of Monday, it had yet to re-open. Glode and George took to surveying the area.
"Damage was confined to certain areas," Glode, the district ecosystem manager with the Department of Natural Resources, said. "We saw many old churches and museums severely crumbled, windows in sky rises had fallen to the ground, and numerous cracks on major buildings which lead to believe they were just hanging on."
When aftershocks continued (there were two more Monday morning) and doubt of the stability of the structure persisted, they left their hotel to find more secure accommodations. With all the chaos, that proved difficult, but not impossible.
"As it stands now, most of Santiago is getting back to normal I guess," Glode said. "But, most things are still closed and damage is still being cleaned up, and everyone is on edge because of the aftershocks.
"We never did go for help or check the embassy. Once family was notified we were fine, we just went with the flow and took it as a change of plans and rolled with it."
He said his views on travel haven't changed and he understands the unpredictability and rarity of natural disasters.
"I just have to get the shirt, I survived an 8.8 in Santiago, Chile," he said.
