I was sleeping in peace until… Crash! Bang! Crash! The sound of breaking glass and windows ready to burst filled my body with fear. At first I thought it was the washing machine gone mad but no! Much worse; EARTHQUAKE!

“Dad!” I cried. Mum came rushing to my bedroom barely being able to see her way around. I climbed out of my bed as fast as I could. I hugged mum in the doorway shivering, just about to cry. Finally it stopped I let go of mum in relief that it had stopped. CRASH BANG! I forgot there would be after shocks. I held on to the doorway thinking, “What if we die?  What if our house falls on top of us and we all get trapped and we don’t have any food or water?”

Now, I couldn’t help the tears streaming down my cheeks. Mum and Emma, my sister, reached for their cell-phones to call loved ones. Emma has a radio on her phone so we changed the station to National Radio. It said the earthquake measured 7.1 magnitude on the Richter scale. We got used to all the after shocks. A lot of old buildings in central city are not safe and have been knocked down.