What's it like to be the survivor of a disaster event? Since I live in Chile, I'm used to earthquakes.

Perhaps in some countries, an earthquake of magnitude 6 on the Richter scale is something big,

but here it's kind of normal. But the one I'll never forget is the 8.8 earthquake on the

Richter scale that happened in Santiago of Chile. Let me explain a bit. I'm a native of the

northern region of the

country, where most of the earthquakes happen, so the constructions are especially resistant against

earthquakes. Santiago is not like that, since they rarely get too much movement. Anyway, I was going

to a concert there, and I was staying in a friend's apartment for the week I was there. It was the 27th

February 2010. 3.33 a.m. I was chilling with my friend's apartment for the week I was there. It was the 27th of February 2010.

3.33 a.m. I was chilling with my friend and some of his pals when suddenly all of the lights went down.

We thought that maybe the building got a malfunction. Then, looking through the large windows,

we saw all of the city going completely dark. I don't know if you guys have been in an apartment

building during a huge earthquake, but I'd describe it as being akin to being on top of a wet noodle that moves one side to another constantly.

The first thing that got to my head is to stay away from the large windows and to get under the table.

I happened to be in a very calm mindset in this situation, apparently.

While my friend and his mates were screaming like hell,

I tried to keep them calm by telling them the usual. Everything's going to be okay. Earthquakes are usually short, so we just need to wait in safety. Holy crap, was I wrong. The earthquake,

magnified by the swaying of the building, was three minutes long. The longest three

frickin' minutes of my life. When it finished, I was relieved. I checked if

everyone was okay, and they were, just scared as all heck. I told my friend Ben that we needed

to get the hell out of there. Ben suggested that we pack a backpack with some supplies. When he was

getting his backpack, his friends just ran out of the place to their families. He told them to stop,

...