Earthquake--YIKES!

Around 10:30 Todd called me and asked if I felt that.  WHAT?  He went on to explain he was working when the building started to shake.  They had to evacuate the building.  He was checking on me and I didn't even feel it.  I was so bummed.  Our first Chinese earthquake and I missed it.  Darn it!  Then I started worrying about Cameron.  Todd thought I should go get him and he asked what I would do if I did.  I said we would come home and play basketball or something.  He said "Do you think it is a good idea to be in the middle of all the new towers in case they fall?"  Hmmm, didn't think of that.  I told him we would go to Forest Park where there is nothing around.  He said "Good idea". 

I was going to get a Mani/Pedi with Rachel so I sent her a message saying I wasn't going to be able to go.  I kept trying to call Ileana because she was going to Chinese lessons at the factory.  I didn't want her to go since they had evacuated.  I finally went down to her house.  I was on the phone with Rachel and Ileana was catching parts of the conversation.  When I was done she asked what happened and I told her about the earthquake.  She hadn't felt it either.  She called Fredy and he confirmed that his building shook too (He is in a different spot than Todd).  We decided we were going to go to school just to check on the kids.  For some reason I decided to call first.  I talked to the secretary and she told me they had evacuated and the sirens went off but they had the all clear and went back to class.  All was well.  I decided he was fine.  Went ahead and got my Mani/Pedi. 

Nails were all cute so we decided to go to lunch.  Ate at Jacky's and then picked Claudia up.  The three of us went to school to work in the library.  The school is getting the Accelerated Reader program and all the books need to get labeled.  Cameron had this program at Seton so we are excited that TIS is getting it.  We worked in the library for an hour and a half.  Then school was out.  Cameron had soccer so I sat outside and watched him play.  Beautiful day.

This is the note that was sent from school:

Dear Parents,

The school experienced a slight tremor this morning. All students were evacuated as a precaution.

The information we have is as follows:

The epi-center was at Luan Xian in Hebei province, 170 kms from Tianjin. It measured 4.7 on the Richter scale. Further information is available on http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/

At this stage, classes are continuing as normal.

Joseph Azmeh and Yvonne Williamson

Principals

Teda International School