Shaking Moment By Sina

Shaking Moment

Scientists have the ability to predict natural events. They can predict most of them before they happen. They can even predict when they will happen such as hurricanes for example; however, they cannot predict earthquakes. Nobody in the world likes events which puts him or her in very bad situations. Luckily, there are some things humans can do to be safe against natural disasters. For instance, they can make their houses stronger against earthquakes. However, I was born and raised in a small town named Bam, Iran, and no one ever thought this city would be hit by an earthquake. Unfortunately, in 2003, my hometown experienced a devastating earthquake. I had never experienced a tragic event like this until that earthquake happened. This earthquake devastated my family and our lives.

The trauma in Bam began with the tremors in themorning of that day. Bam had had a few small tremors. One of them was around ten o’clock at night. People knew that an earthquake would soon come. Some smart people took advantage of those little tremors, and they spent that night outside of their homes. A few people slept near the exit door of their houses, and some of them did not sleep at all that night. My family and I also spent that night at home close to the exit door of our house in the living room. Finally, all of the people from Bam went to sleep except those people who were sitting up at night.

Only five hours and twenty five minutes passed after the tremors before the main earthquake hit, when suddenly the ground started to shake. The earthquake was very strong. I was inside of my house with my family. We thought that the shaking was over, but it was not. I tried to stand up, but it would not let me stay up and it knocked me down. Also, it did not let me open the door. It had a very loud sound and I was not able to hear the screams of my family members. After ten seconds, the silence came back again. When we got out of the house, the air was completely dark with dust, so we could not see anything. There were a lot of sounds in the air. Some people asked for help, and everyone was crying. Fortunately, our home was not destroyed completely and we got out of the house safely. On the other hand, the people who did not have strong houses could not get out. Even the people who were up all night could not escape their house. Even though I was only thirteen years old, I was still able to help other people. I went to help out my neighbors. More than forty thousand people died and around fifty thousand more were injured. Ninety percent of the city was destroyed in that event. I lost many of my family members and also I lost most of my friends. There was a historical landmark in my city called “Arge Bam”. It was completely destroyed. It was three thousand years old.

My family and I could not stay in Bam anymore. The weather was extremely cold, so we could not stay there without our house. I had to leave my hometown with all my belongings and childhood memories. We moved from Bam to Kerman. Another reason that forced us to move was because the earthquake happened in the middle of school. In Kerman, I went to a new school, but I did not have any friends there and the environment was alien to me. On the other hand, the kids were very kind to me there and they helped me a lot.

Since that huge earthquake, all of the people in my country have been building their homes with better materials. Now the people in my country are more conscious of their environment. My whole family was so devastated by this earthquake that we see things much differently. Now, whenever my family and I are looking for an apartment, our first concern is whether or not the apartment is strong enough against earthquakes. Unfortunately, scientists care more about first world countries such as America and Japan, and they do not care about third world counties such as Iran. Maybe one day in the future, every country will be prepared for future natural disasters.