By Fred G. Baker
The man sat on the chair that he had moved onto the narrow balcony of his hotel room. He had finished his business for the day, was hot and tired and was looking forward to enjoying a cold cerveza and a small cigar in the light breeze on the balcony. He could see down the narrow street that ran beneath him along that side of the hotel. Here he had a modest view of the apartment house across from the hotel, the electrical wires and poles along the street and the few small cars and delivery vehicles that used the street below.
He enjoyed the view and the relative quiet that the setting provided. There was usually some activity on the street or in the apartment building to keep him mildly entertained. Today he watched as a young girl and her dog played on the balcony of their apartment just across from and below him on the third floor of that building. The girl was maybe seven years old, dressed in shorts and a green top. She had her dog standing up on his hind legs, begging for the little bits of treat that she gave him for his efforts. The dog was a small white-and-brown spotted terrier of some mixed street breed and he seemed to pick up on his tricks quickly. The girl had him do a back flip which was very well done for such a limited space as the balcony.
The girl laughed loudly and called out something in Spanish. At that, a young woman stepped out from the apartment onto the balcony to watch the dog do the trick again. The terrier performed an even higher jump that time to the delight of the girl and the woman who appeared to be the girl’s mother. The woman clapped her hands and the girl laughed again, relishing the moment. She raised her face to look up and saw the man watching across from her. She smiled and waved to him and he smiled and pantomimed applause in return. She giggled and her mother looked up to also smile at the new audience. The man smiled back at the woman whom he had seen before. She was quite attractive, friendly and he hoped meet her sometime during his three week visit to the city. The woman stepped back into the apartment and the girl continued to play with her dog.
After a few minutes the man noticed that all the pigeons on the electric wires spooked up into the air. The whole street was suddenly silent. Then a low rumble began far away to the west but quickly seemed to come closer and closer. In a few seconds the dog made a little “ruff” sound and ran into the apartment. The balconies of both buildings began to sway, gently at first, creating an unusual sensation. The buildings as well as the whole street seemed to move and sway more and more.
The girl next door shrieked “Mama, Mama!” and ran into her home. The electrical wires swung wildly and crossed each other creating many sparks and pops. Small bits of stucco and concrete began to fall past the balcony of the hotel. The man was suddenly released from his fascination with the warping earth and stood up, spilling his beer. He stepped into his room to avoid the falling debris. He was not used to experiencing earthquakes, so it took some time for him to realize that he was actually in danger as the old hotel creaked and swayed from side to side. He went from fascination and concern to real fear as he watched the little girl’s building sway and begin to break up. A large piece of stone masonry came loose from its roofline and crashed onto the girl’s balcony right where she had been standing. There was a moment of hesitation and then with a loud rending sound, the balcony tore loose from the wall and fell three stories to the street below.
By now people were shouting and cries of fear came from many buildings on both sides of the street. Car alarms went off and electric wires broke free and fell on cars, starting small fires. And after what seemed like minutes, but was probably only seconds, the shaking suddenly stopped.
The man had not been able to do anything but watch as the event unfolded. Then he came alive with motion. He grabbed his wallet and keys and sprang for the door of his room. In the hallway many people were leaving their rooms and running to the elevator to escape. Fortunately, a man of some experience was blocking off the elevator and shouting, “No ascensor. Usa la escalera!” Use the stairs. Of course, the elevator might be damaged so the stairs were the only avenue of escape. People crowded down the staircase for all four floors, exited the lobby and ran out into the street. Many people were already standing in the middle of the street away from the buildings on either side to avoid falling debris. All traffic had stopped dead on the road.
The hotel did not look badly damaged from the temblor. It was a very old hotel and may have been built when building codes were either lax or simply not enforced. The man had seen for himself the crazy construction practices used for some of the less expensive buildings, where bamboo was sometimes substituted for steel rebar in concrete walls. In an earthquake, steel beats bamboo every time. He wondered how this building had been built.
The man reached into the pocket of his guayabera shirt and cursed to himself. He had left his passport on the dresser in his room. How could he have been so stupid? He had to run back to his room to get it. The ground was now still and he decided to go for it. As he approached the lobby door, the hotel manager stopped him. “Señor, you must wait in the street. The temblor is not over. It is just resting before it comes again.” The man pushed past the manager and said he would be very quick. He needed his passport and said it would only take him two minutes at the most. Then he ran up the stairs to the fourth floor.
The man reached his room as the next wave of the temblor struck. It came much faster this time and was much more violent. He entered the room and crossed to the dresser as the floor rolled up and down in great serpentine motions. The dresser fell forward before he could snatch up his passport. Everything began to move—furniture, floor and walls. Then the bed slid into him and he fell on top of the mattress as it shifted across the room. He got up and staggered to the door that led to the hallway. The door was stuck. The doorframe was deformed and it gripped the door tightly. He pulled the door as hard as he could until the door knob came off in his hand. He was trapped in the swaying, deforming room. His only hope now was the balcony.
He looked out the balcony door and saw the apartment building across the street actually warping this way and that as waves contorted the earth below. The outer walls of the apartments were crumbling, leaving the apartments open to the elements, dust and falling debris. He heard people screaming. Some people were apparently trapped in their building just as he was trapped in his room.
As he looked out of the shattered balcony door, there was a massive roll of the earth and the whole room seemed to move. It appeared as if the entire apartment building next door had leaped into the air and was suddenly thrust closer to his hotel. He was thrown to the floor, landing hard. It was too surreal to comprehend. He could look directly into the open wall of the apartment of the little girl across the street. Not only that, but instead of being twenty-plus feet away across the street, the apartment was only about five feet away! Unbelievable! How could that happen?
He leaned out over his balcony and realized that the ground floor of his building had collapsed. He was now much closer to the ground, as the entire first floor had given away beneath the weight of the building. Then he noticed that his building had much bamboo projecting from the concrete of the walls. No wonder it went down so easily!
The quake stopped again and the sound of it rolled away across the city. He became aware of a dog barking and the cries of a little girl. As the dust began to settle he saw the little girl across the remaining gap between the two buildings. She saw him at the same moment and stepped near the edge of her open apartment floor, calling to him for help. “Señor, por favor. Ayudame! Ayudame!” Help me! Help me! Then she collapsed on the floor in tears.
The man was in shock, unsteady and confused. Adrenaline flowed through him as panic began to rise. He did not know what had happened and was terrified. He had to get out of there and looked for a way to climb down to the alleyway below. He looked over and saw the equally terrified little girl in her apartment. He could not just go and save himself. The girl needed help and he had to find a way to rise to the occasion, get them both out and down to the street. The next wave of the earthquake might demolish both buildings and them as well. He looked at the gap that separated the two buildings. The girl’s apartment was just below his and about five feet away. If he could climb over his balcony railing, he could probably jump it. He had to try. Besides, his building was already a death trap.
He called to the girl that he was coming and inched out onto his now wobbly balcony. He climbed over the railing, dangling over a void bounded by broken buildings and projecting railings and debris. He got into launch position and was hit by a falling chip of concrete just as he began to jump. He landed with a crash in the girl’s apartment and the little terrier came over to bark at the unexpected guest. His head hurt like hell where he had been hit by debris. He put his hand on the bruised area and it came away dripping blood. His leg had twisted on landing and now seemed unsteady. He was not sure he was in condition to help anyone just then.
The girl did not care about his condition. She needed his help. “Ayudame, Señor! Mi Mama es en peligro. Ella necessita ayuda.” Help me Señor! My Mama is in danger. She needs help. She pulled on his arm and tried to get him to his feet. He got up and limped after her and the dog as they proceeded into the next room. The girl ran around a collapsed bed to where a large wooden wardrobe had fallen over. Under it was the young woman whom he had seen earlier, the girl’s mother.
The man rounded the bed and saw the woman’s legs projecting out from underneath the wardrobe. He got down on the floor to check for vital signs. She was unconscious and had a weak pulse. From what he could see, the wardrobe had fallen on top of her and a small bedside chest of drawers. The drawers had taken much of the weight but the woman’s shoulder was pinned down. If he could just lift one corner of the wardrobe, they might be able to pull the woman free.
He got up and looked around the bedroom. He needed something to use as a lever to lift the weight off the woman. He found a six-foot length of pipe in the closet where it was used as a clothes bar. He pulled it loose from its hangers, inserted it below the wardrobe and lifted. In the right position he could lift the corner of the wardrobe a few inches. He indicated to the girl to pull on her mother’s legs when he lifted up the heavy piece of furniture. On the first try they could not pull her free. Then they tried again and he lifted the wardrobe six inches. “Jale! Jale!” Pull! Pull! He called to the girl as he lifted. That time the girl really struggled and her mother pulled free. The woman had a nasty bruise on her head but was not bleeding from the wound..
There was a low rumbling sound in the distance as another wave of temblor began. The man lifted the slender woman in his arms and found he could carry her, even with his bad leg. He looked at the girl who was hugging her mother’s face. “Vamonos!” We must go!, he said.
The girl ran to the door of the apartment and opened it. As they stepped out into the hallway, the girl doubled back to get something from her home. The man could now attest from experience that going back for something during an earthquake was a bad idea. But the girl returned quickly carrying her mother’s purse. With that she led the way to the staircase for the building. They made their way there only to find that the stairs had collapsed during the last wave. They had no way to get down to ground level. The girl then had the idea to go down the corridor at the end of the hall to a window that had a balustrade on it. She thought perhaps they could climb down or jump from there. They looked out the broken window at the narrow street below.
Good fortune smiled on them just then because they saw four bomberos or firemen out on the street three floors below, helping people into the street. The girl cried, “Ayudame! Aqui, Aqui!” Help! Over here!
The men gathered a long ladder and stood it up next to the balustrade. Soon the first fireman climbed up, wrapped the little girl and her dog in his free arm and descended to the ground. The girl would not leave the dog behind. The man handed the young woman out the window to the second fireman who slung her over his broad shoulder and took her down the ladder. They motioned for the man to follow but his leg was in such pain that he could not climb out onto the ladder. Finally, a true hero of a fire fighter came up to the window. He had the man climb onto his back in a fireman’s carry and climbed down with him on his back.
The firefighters placed the man in a sitting position on the ground against a stone wall. They checked the woman’s injuries and did not seem too concerned about her condition. She opened her eyes briefly, looking very tired. When she saw her daughter she seemed content. “Mi cara,” she said. Then she looked at the man, “Y tu tambien?” She smiled before closing her eyes again. The firemen lay her with her head leaning up against the man’s chest. The girl then curled up against her mother and the dog curled up against her. The firefighters indicated that “El Medico” was coming and in fact they could see men coming up the street with a stretcher. The firemen moved along the street to help the next people in need.
The man placed his arms around the woman, the girl and the dog. He hugged them all. Now they were all safe. The last wave of the temblor receded into the eastern hills.
