February 06, 2012 @ 11:55AM 

 My twin and I were at home when we felt the earthquake. 

I was in my room, waiting for some videos to load, when all of the sudden my table began to shake. At first I thought it was because of my own foot (my shaking mannerism). But then I noticed both of my feet were not touching the table at all. The shaking strengthen and I noticed the chair I was sitting on was rocking from left to right.

I said out loud, “Earthquake! There’s an earthquake!”

My twin who was at the dining area heard me and said, “Yes, an earthquake!”

I thought of posting about it on Facebook than run out of the house! (I’m SO embarrassed to admit that!) But I clicked my laptop to hibernate and run to the dining area. My twin was still on his laptop, typing away in his CABAL online game that we were experiencing an earthquake.

My instincts told me not to panic because the earthquake was not that alarming (in our area). But it was strong enough to last 3 minutes and shake tables and chairs. When the quake stopped, I immediately switched on my laptop and logged-in to Facebook. Because I could post anything, the News Feed was full of “EARTHQUAKE!!!” updates.

By 12:05PM, we felt an aftershock. My twin decided to remove the huge hanging mirror in our dining area. The aftershock lasted for 10 seconds or less. I could even hear the tremor. 

12:30PM There was someone knocking on our gate and I was relieved that my other brother (the eldest) just got home. He told us, before he left school; people from building came rushing out. He didn’t know there was an earthquake because he was commuting. He thought at first there was an ongoing hostage drama or something.

I emailed my Dad to tell him we were alright, nothing really serious happened in the area. Then I SMS my sister, asking her if she was OK and if she wanted to go home. Minutes later, the college I attended announced classes in the afternoon were suspended. My sister’s school cancelled classes, then all schools and colleges followed suit.

I received a SMS from my sister, telling me she was on the way home. She got home around 3.00PM. I was glad my family was safe. I was glad that the earthquake happened in broad daylight (when everyone was awake). We must be more prepared especially (according to the news) aftershocks are expected in the next months. I’ve realized these are trouble times; imagine if earthquakes happened at night?