Only 3 hours after I wrote the last post, the city of Iloilo experienced an earthquake! All the students (and some of the teachers) were sitting in class (in the RiverView Church, where our classes are held), listening to Mr. Prewitt teach us about the principles for how to make a book sale at the door. Suddenly my bench began to shake and I thought that the lady sitting beside me was moving too much and making the bench move. Then I saw the chandeliers swinging from the ceiling and realized we were in an earthquake!
Everyone realized it at the same time and immediately class ended! We all ran outside away from the buildings, but the shaking continued! The ground underneath us was moving, as if we were on a ship. I really thought I was on a boat in the middle of the ocean! (I had never experienced an earthquake before, so this was all new for me!) I'm guessing it went on for about a minute and we all stood around outside and waited to see what would happen next. I was praying the church wouldn't fall, though I didn't see any other buildings around us falling.
Then as suddenly as the earthquake had come, it ended! We waited around outside for awhile and then resumed classes, only to run outside again when a strong aftershock came about 15 minutes later. Another aftershock came after awhile, but it was very minor and we stayed inside for that one. We found out later that it was a 6.9 earthquake at the epicenter, though I'm sure it wasn't that strong here.
The earthquake's epicenter was about 100 miles away on another island. You can read a report of the earthquake there at: http://www.philstar.com/nation/article.aspx?publicationsubcategoryid=63&articleid=774948 .
We thank God so much for keeping us safe here in Iloilo! Earthquakes of that size aren't common here, but God is so good in not allowing the earthquake to have been more severe! We lost power for several hours, but thankfully it's back on again! Let's pray for all those who lost their homes or loved ones in this earthquake. This is just another sign that Jesus' coming is near!
"...There shall be... earthquakes, in divers places." Matthew 24:7.
Let's be ready! :-)
