Colombia Shaken by Devastating Earthquake

I share what a major earthquake feels like from the inside, connecting Colombia’s 7.4 quake to the 7.7 quake I lived through as an eight-year-old in El Salvador. I walk through the emotional timeline from the first shake to peak terror, aftershocks, and the long recovery that follows. 

• comparing Colombia’s 7.4 to El Salvador’s 7.7 and why it feels personal 
• the first seconds of an earthquake and how your brain decides what’s happening 
• getting outside fast, avoiding walls, and why movement becomes difficult at peak shaking 
• a family member’s dangerous walk home after landslides and blocked roads 
• aftershocks, sleeping outside, and the slow reality of rebuilding 
• why earthquake magnitude is logarithmic and what 10x shaking and 32x energy means 
• practical earthquake safety tips for travelers and anyone in multi-story buildings 
• faith, prayer, and mental strain during disasters and hard family seasons 

Don't forget to go leave a rating, you know, like it, subscribe. 
Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. 
Maybe share your experience in the comment section on what it's like. 

Transcript

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Welcome Back And Why I’m Here

SPEAKER_00 0:00

What is going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome back to my channel and welcome back into another episode of the Carlos Granados Podcast. Your favorite podcaster is back. And here with a podcast because I felt like you know my heart was telling me to make a podcast with the events that have been going on. And today, as I'm recording this video, another earthquake, another earthquake happened in Colombia. And when I mean another, because I over the summer, uh Venezuela had a a very large earthquake as well. And I was gonna make a video on on that at the time, but unfortunately for me in my life at the moment, I'm going through some personal family stuff, you know, with with um with my family. And that's the reason I haven't been as active on my podcast or my YouTube channel necessarily. Uh, it's just been concentrating on my family as much as I can at the moment. But eventually, God willing, when all said and done, I will come back and tell you guys what happened, kind of give you uh an idea of the gist of of what's been going on. It's very heavy, you know. But that's one of the reasons why I haven't really been active. But today uh I wanted to talk, and I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I didn't fully prepare for the podcast, but my heart was telling me to share um some of my experiences of what I had in 2001 um in El Salvador when we had a similar size and magnitude earthquake as the one that happened today in Colombia, right? Um my heart goes out to um the people from Colombia, you know, la gente de Colombia, uh todos mi parcerito, you know, it's just um it's really truly, truly devastating. And um also to the people in Venezuela, you know, just man, when I see those videos, I can't help but think what happened in 2001 with in our country, um and living that experience. You know, there's some trauma that happens, and when I see the videos now, it brings you back those feelings of what I experienced when I was just only eight years old, right? So in today's podcast, I'm gonna be

Colombia’s Quake And A Heavy Season

SPEAKER_00 2:20

talking about that experience and what it's like being in uh an earthquake of almost a similar magnitude. Let me double check here uh in Google real quick because I have it pulled up. I believe the earthquake that hit Colombia today, and also I guess it hit Ecuador and Panama, was a magnitude of 7.4. At least that's what Google's saying, all right. My source. And the one that hit El Salvador back in 2001, it was a 7.7, right? So just a lot tiny bit um stronger um than the one that hit today, but it's just as devastating, you know. Like I seen some of the videos today, and uh, hopefully while I'm talking, I want to share this clip that I saw on Instagram. It's probably about 30 minutes or so. I'm sorry, 30 minutes, 30 seconds to maybe a minute or so. Um, but I'm gonna explain to you the timeline of what it feels like to be in an earthquake and what goes through your head. Because when I saw that video, it everything that I saw literally tapped into my head and it felt the same as if I was reliving my experience back when I was young, you know? And the reason I want to share this video is for awareness, right? Um earthquakes are really serious. Now in America, at least in the states, I live in the state of Georgia, I haven't really experienced an earthquake here. Maybe a little wave or something, but nothing crazy, right? But in other countries, um, like El Salvador, you can say, or South America, Central America, um, for some reason they happen very often, of course, the volcanoes um or tectonic place and things of that nature moving around. So that can affect a, you know, that's those lot of a lot of factors that can affect um why an earthquake uh may happen in the the magnitude of what it's like being in one, right? Because it's so quick. I mean, it happens so fast. While you're in it, it feels like a lifetime, but objectively, sometimes it's a couple minutes, and then a another wave follows follows along. So that's what I'm gonna discuss today. Um, I want to thank everybody for always supporting my channel. Um, whether it's on YouTube, just remember that I recorded these these videos on 4K on my phone. And of course, um on all the audio platforms, I'm also available there. Uh, don't forget to go leave a rating, you know, like it, subscribe. Yeah, I'm getting some traction, actually, pretty decent traction on my audio platforms. So I love that. I appreciate you guys. And as you know, it's always all love. But definitely in today's video, let's get into the topic of what it's like being in um in a in a 7.7 um magnitude earthquake.

First Memories Of El Salvador 2001

SPEAKER_00 5:24

You know, it's um it's a it's a crazy experience. And as I mentioned earlier, my heart does go out, go out to um the people in Colombia. If you have a family and friends, um, you know, I'm sorry for what's happening and and the chaos that it's that it caused. And also to my people in Venezuela, I wanna I want to just show as much love as I can, maybe bring some awareness. Maybe you guys can understand what it's like from somebody that you know like myself, or that you may experience an earthquake of of that magnitude, right? So let's get uh into um my my story, what I'm gonna do, and I already I just made this up in my head. What I'm gonna do, start telling you by what happened with me, and then I'm gonna correlate that with the video that I saw online so you guys can see how similar the process is and the thinking that happens at that moment, right? So back in 2001, I was eight years old, as I mentioned earlier. Um, I was playing video games with my friend, actually. Um, and I remember, right, my bed started to shake, you know, just a little, I was like, dude, stop moving my bed because I thought he was trying to get me to like lose the game, you know, that we were playing. And he was like, I'm not moving it. And then it continued to shake. And we looked at each other and we we knew what it was, right? So, point number one here for the people that experience earthquakes often, right? Because a lot of earthquakes are very small. Sometimes you just, you know, the earth shakes, you see the chandelier or a lamp move. And to make sure that it's an earthquake, you check above, right? And then if anything is moving above, then you're like, okay, something's happening, and you just pause. And a lot of the times it goes away, and you're just like, oh, earthquake, right? So my friend and I look at each other, right? And we know the the earth is moving. So what we do is we try to go outside. What happened with me in that day? The controller of the video game I was playing got tangled up on my on my leg. So I'm pulling and I pull the the the uh the system with me and almost the TV. And I tell my friend, yo, help me because I got stuck, you know? And remember, I'm eight years old, so a little bit clumsy, not as aware, but I knew what was happening, right? So he helps me, we go outside, and the earth continues to shake, right? Now let me pause here from the video that I saw, and I and I and and I and what I again, like I mentioned, I'm gonna try to if I don't put it on this um on the video um on the on the YouTube video. You know, I don't have rights to it, but I'm sure it's gone viral and you probably have seen it by by this time. Um I'm

A Viral Video Mirrors The Fear

SPEAKER_00 8:28

gonna leave a link just in case, right? If I don't upload it with the video, but I'm gonna leave a link on the description um of my channel so you guys can look at it. And all the videos, if not most of them, are very similar. Like the people have similar reaction because your brain goes through that that similar process, right? Right. So it's a okay, it's happening, the earthquake is happening, earth is moving, right? Let's start moving. Either let's start ready to go outside. If it doesn't go away, right? Or if it goes away, cool, you give us some time and you're good. But this time it wasn't stopping. And just like the videos I was seeing, this lady, let me give you like the stage of the video. Um, this lady starts recording inside her house. It's a beautiful home, by the way, in Columbia. And she starts going outside either with her, seems like either her dad and her husband, but they're definitely um two adult males, and she's calling her son. Originally, I thought it was a younger kid, but he seems like a young adult. So he comes out of um uh so he comes out up, he could comes upstairs, she's recording, right, while she's going outside too, and he comes outside. And at the time, you can see on the on the young adult's face on this on this male, you can tell that he's kind of like smirking a little bit, but not smirking in a sense of like cockiness or anything. It's more of earthquake is happening, you know, we're probably they're used to it, right? And let's just go outside for prevention. It's literally what I think when I start feeling the earth move. I'm like, oh snap, it's happening. You know what? Just go outside for prevention. It's it's it's the same trend of thought. So they go outside and she continues to record. Just like I went outside, obviously I wasn't able to record, but when they're outside, the the earth right is moving a little bit faster and is shaking a little bit more. And you're like, whoa, okay, it's gonna last a little bit, right? So you start getting a little fearful, you start getting a little bit more worried. Just ask the video that I saw. The guy who had a little smirk originally, he's like, Oh, wait, it's moving a little bit too much. And then there's that the peak of the earth moving and the wave hitting, right? Or the waves and it just shakes back and forth. Shakes, you know, it's like you're shaking something, shakes back and forth. And when I was in El Salvador, I experienced the same thing. I came out of the house, and by the time I went outside, I started grabbing something because it was shaking too much. If you stood still, right, it will probably have dropped you, most likely. And you can't really move anywhere because as soon as you try to take a step, it brings you back or it sends you the other way. You get me? Because the earth is shaking. So in this video, the same thing is happening, and you can tell when it was at its peak because it kept shaking and the house visibly, you can see it shake. When I was with my experience, I could see, and I kid you not when I tell you this, you actually see the waves on the ground. Now you don't see this big wave, but you can tell that the earth is moving in a way that is so abnormal that when you visibly see it, it's surreal, right? It's it's it's very powerful. You that's when the fear starts hitting you. When you visibly start seeing it and then you start feeling it. And the first thing that you try to do is safety, right? What a lot of people do is go outside, make sure that you're not next to high walls or high buildings, right? Because what happens, they fall. Or if you're at a house that's a one floor, don't stay next to the wall. You have to go outside, right? Because the likelihood of you surviving it is higher that way. Now it seems like basic knowledge, but a lot of the times when you're in those moments, knowledge like that doesn't just come to your head that fast because there's emotions like fear and anxiety, and what's gonna happen to me, right? Where is your family? Where is my family? That starts happening. So in the video that I keep referring to, same thing happens, right? House starts falling apart because if it's shaking, it doesn't just fall, it's falling pieces on the side, right? Um, the the the concrete, you know, starts tearing pieces and it starts falling. And right now it's at its peak. And the mom flips the phone to the right, and you can tell that that the the the the young male now is it he's you can tell fear fear has crept in because now there is more smirking, there's no more, you know, oh it's happening. It's it's it's now it's it's it's a bang out, it's happening. And the their house starts falling apart, right? And the house is beautiful, like I'm telling you. And then you can hear the voice, and you can hear the pitch in her voice. Like, oh my god, oh my god. And now she has kids at school, right? Uh, I'm assuming so because she

Landslides And The Long Walk Home

SPEAKER_00 14:00

said the kids, you know, and they're at school, I believe so. So same thing with us when when it when this event happened in El Salvador, I had a cousin who went out to get books for the school year, right? And his story is very rough when it comes to the earthquake. I'm gonna make this a long story short, but he was buying books uh at a store um probably like 20, 30, 25 minutes away from our house. Earthquake starts happening, he starts, you know, going outside, right? Going outside from from the bookstore, and earthquake happens, right? And once it happens, uh the people that lived in the mountains, essentially a landslide happened. And in order for my brother to get back home, the roads were covered and mud, um a lot of land, uh land from the landslide, you couldn't pass. People were essentially buried alive, right? And in these cases, it happens very often. Uh, if your house is on the side of the mountain, on the skirt of the mountain, or a volcano, or whatever, a lot of these people are probably some of the first ones to go because of how weak the structure around them that they're living in is, right? So, and I tell you that for context, because in these are these earthquakes, it's typically you don't you don't see that often because of videos that you see online now, it's probably for from people who first of all have access to cell phones and then who record a lot of buildings shaking, right? But there's another side of the people that get buried alive essentially because of the earthquake. So in order for my my my cousin, I call him a stepbrother because we grew up together, but in order for my cousin to come back home, he had and the the the cell phone um lines were down, so my mom wasn't able to call him. He had to walk all that distance home. And in order for him to cross certain mountains or certain paths, he essentially had to walk through the people that were buried alive by the by the landslide. So essentially walking on top of bodies to get back home, right? And that part always gets me. I'm like, dang, that is that's very, very rough. And this is why when I see videos and and and and things of that nature online, it hits me a little bit different because people in my family had to experience it their way, some of them in the worst way, and then I had experience it my own way at home, you know. And as an eight-year-old, you know what fear is and you know what it feels like, but you know, you know, when you're younger, dying doesn't seem like a much of a bigger deal because you're you know it's fear, but you just don't think about it too much, you know, it's just you're a kid, right? Um, so my cousin, and in order for him to come back home, has to do all of that. And several hours hours later, he shows up. Um, and my mom go picks goes picks him up. And the craziest part is there were several people from a neighborhood that had to do that same thing, and they were like, I saw you, I saw you know your cousin, and they were telling my mom, like, I saw him, and he was coming back this way. So we knew that he was alive, but he hadn't gotten to back home yet, right? So eventually he comes back, he gets back, right?

Peak Shaking And Aftershock Dread

SPEAKER_00 18:05

But let me let me go back to to to to the peak of the earthquake. So that's happening. And in the video, you can tell it hit the fan. It's crazy now. You know, you don't know what can happen, how long it'll last. You start praying, you start praying, right? You can tell the people we're doing that, they were nervous because houses are falling, the shake, the the the ground is shaking and it's moving really bad. And just like the movies, you can see cracks happening on buildings live, you know, in real time. And that's what I saw, you know, just waves of cracks and then buildings in the video falling, and then in my house, uh, cracks and the walls, uh the outside walls of my house, and uh the ground, you know, splitting a little bit, making cracks because of all the force, you know? And it's just out of like it's like out of a movie, it's something that you don't really know how to explain, but when you feel it, you know, right? And this is why I kind of wanted to share this experience with you guys because is that real and is that deep? It's it's it's a supernatural event that happens and that you don't know how long it will last. And just like this video, the timeline of emotions is the same for people who have experience with earthquakes, whether they're small or larger. When I started seeing the video, I was like the same face, you know. I was like, oh, like earthquake, but then builds and it builds and it builds. And each time, as the seconds pass, your emotions change because you know that the peak of the way hasn't hit yet, and when it does, it feels like a lifetime, right? And once it calms down, then you know that an aftershock is coming, a second amount of ways, right? And you're waiting for that because it's gonna it happens, right? That aftershock, most of the time, from my experience, it happens. You wait for the aftershock, which feels just as bad, but it's not as bad. But it feels because you're in that moment, right? Your your fight or flight is kicking in, and it happens, and then you see the devastation of what happens so quickly, man. I mean, in a matter of minutes, um, how powerful Earth can be. You forget that, or that we're in in a land and and soil that can move and that can rip apart and that can break, and that it has faults, you know. In that video, the same thing I saw and the way it changed, the way people change, and I'm like, I can relate to that. I know exactly what their brain is feeling and thinking because it's you know, first of all, the similarities in magnitude and force, it's about the same with what I experienced and what I remember. And looking at them and hearing them, I'm like, I feel what they're going through. It's just you just know so I tell you all of this um because a lot of the times you don't see and you don't hear someone that's gone through something similar, right? But I'm gonna continue to give you more depth into what happened in my case and possibly happened to people in other earthquakes like the ones that happen in in Venezuela and and Colombia.

Sleeping Outside And Hearing More Aftershocks

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Days after the earthquake, more aftershocks. So what we did is we had to sleep outside, right? Why? Because walls aren't safe inside. Another earthquake happens, a walk and land on you. And remember, walls over there are typically in uh if you have a house over there, they're made out of concrete. Pure con my house was made out of pure concrete. And those are the ones that resist a little bit more than some of the houses that the thoroughwalk thorough world third world country people have. So we're sleeping outside for maybe about a month, if I'm not mistaken. And I remember feeling aftershocks. I remember um feeling it kind of weird, knowing that a lot of people in your neighborhood, if not all, were sleeping outside because you knew you kind of knew the drill. You kind of knew what you needed to do until until it was safe, right? And then the the you start hearing about the tragedies, right? We heard the ones that happened with my cousin and the people that got buried alive. You heard about the buildings that collapsed and that fell on people, and they were buried alive, you know. And you hear about unfortunate events about certain roads, or when you were in the car and something happened, you know, all of that starts going into your mind and starts playing, and you're you know that your country is going through like such a tragedy. And it takes months, if not years, to rebuild uh something catastrophic like that. And just like in this case now, that's why my heart feels what people who are less fortunate are going to have to go through. Because if your house is not made out of something solid, it typically falls. Now, where do you live? Where do you sleep? Right tonight, as I'm speaking now. Now, this video will probably come out tomorrow or the following day, but tonight, those people, man, either you're looking for families, uh, wondering where their family members can be if they're alive. And then if they are, where do you sleep that night? You know, and then for the next night, for the however, however long it'll take. And a lot of buildings in Columbia from the videos that I saw fell. It's unbelievable. And it's so quickly because the earth shakes for a while, and then this force just hits bang, and it shakes as if like it comes with a purpose to tear down the the walls and and the buildings and everything in its path. You know what I mean? And to some extent, I'll say this in um in a graceful manner. Luckily for us, now we have visuals of what that looks like, right? Because people have their phones and they're recording their experience, you know, and they're sharing it with the world. So you have a little bit of better idea of what that looks like, right? And the the the future going forward for a lot of families, luckily for mine, it wasn't as hard, but I know of people, you know, whose houses fell, how to rebuild it, um, who had to construct it again. There's for for months, if not years, you saw cracks on walls that essentially never got fixed that were left from the damage, right? And it's a reminder of what happened that day for a certain amount of minutes, you know. And it's something similar that those people are gonna have to go through in in South America and the countries that got hit. So it's a very unfortunate tragedy. You know, Mother Nature is um is tough. That those moments feel a lot like you don't have control and you don't, right? But you know that you're on God's hands in those moments, or whatever at the time you believe in, right? Or if you know that there is a God and you're not following him, then you start praying to him, you know? It's just one of those moments, and you can't fight it. Um, you can't do anything about it, but just hope, first of all, that you make it out of it. But while you're hoping, making sure that whatever place you're at, while the peak of this earthquake is happening, that you're in a safe place, right? Because if you're stuck in a building trying to get out, it's almost impossible unless maybe you're in the first floor, but if you live in the higher floors and you chose to maybe ignore it because again, these happen often, right? Or at least you have some experience with them, right? So you kind of know it can go away and nothing crazy will happen. But it's rare the times that happen like it happens like this. So those people, you can't move. You know, the the earth is shaking way too much for you to even move. Like it you probably will harm yourself more if you don't grab up to something, to like a poll or a post or something like that's really, really um sturdy with strong. Uh it's the best thing that I can describe that you may hold on to, you know. And all of that, and having to deal with all of that is is um is something that's very hard. And it doesn't, it's not that it doesn't leave you, but you remember, right? The the feeling, the the emotions, and that those are some of the same feelings or emotions that people today are feeling in in in Venezuela and Colombia, and and and the people who have suffered you know from earthquakes, right? Um it's very unfortunate. Um, you know, my prayers go out to to the families. Um, if you guys have loved ones or friends, you know, I'm sorry to hear that. And I'll be praying for for you guys, I'll be praying for the situation. And you know, it's part again, it's part of Mother Nature. And um it reminds you that that in this world, in this universe, there's things that happen that leaves you that leave you so helpless, that leave you, there's not much to do but be on on God's uh grace. And and that's something that's at the moment when you're when it's happening, it's very surreal, it's very strong. Um as I mentioned earlier, looking for me, I lucky for me, I was uh I was eight years old. So the concept of all of that was not as strong in my brain, but naturally your fire flight kicks in. Um one of the people that lived next to us, it was a church, and they had daughters, and their daughters they were younger than me and they saw it as a game. They were like, let the ground keep shaking, let the ground keep shaking. They were having fun. See how like there's levels to what people experience. There is the kids that I just explained in earthquakes, and they were like, let this keep going. This is great, this is fun. Then there's me where it's like, I know I'm eight years old, and I know what's happening, and I'm I'm scared, but it's not like you don't understand it fully yet. And then there's the older people that that understand that oh, I have to protect myself, I have to protect my family, my kids, whatever. And it's just how it goes, you know, there's different levels to different ages of what you're thinking in those moments, right? Um, and I have, you know, I can go deep into so many stories, but those night those night, those nights at night, when I was sleeping outside with with my mom, um my grandma, it was um it was different. And at the time, not understanding it fully, it just felt like uh you were like camping outside almost. You know, you fit felt like you were just having a good time outside. But you knew that at night, in the middle of the night, you will hear, I mean, you will hear, you will feel the earth shake, and you will wake up and you're like, it's happening again. You know, you you start preparing for if it starts moving, you know, stand up or go hold something, you know, and trying to be preventive as possible. Um so that is the the

Why Magnitude Numbers Aren’t Linear

SPEAKER_00 31:20

the feeling, the sentiment. I'm going to share something with you guys about earthquakes. Uh, that I was trying to, I was in my head trying to explain this before I started recording, but I said, you know what, let Google help me um with this, right? I want to ex I want to read something to you about earthquakes, right? Um, so you guys can understand if you don't understand how the the strength and the magnitude and the size and the energy it releases in earthquakes, if you don't understand how how how it goes or how or if you've ever been explained, right? So check this out. Um, an earthquake gets much stronger with each whole number that you go up on the scale. So if it's from like a six to seven, that's a whole number, right? Seven to eight whole number. But it's not a simple addition. Earthquake magnitude scales are look logarithmic, meaning each step of multi step up multiplies the power by a huge amount rather than just adding a little bit extra, right? So let me read to let me read this real quick. How strength increases wave size, each whole number increases means the ground shakes 10 times more wave amplitude. So if you go from a magnitude um strength six to seven, seven to eight, that whole number, that means uh it shakes ten times more. That's how powerful the scale is, right? So if you're thinking about from a one, it shook 10 times more, and from a two to three, 10 times more, and then up to a seven and closer and closing to an eight. Energy released. Each whole number increases, releases about 32 more times energy. So the energy release is not 10 times, it's 32 more times, right? By each whole number. And the combined jump. So this is a great example that they give you. So a magnitude six earthquake is 10 times larger than a five, but it releases roughly 32 times more energy. A magnitude seven is a hundred times larger than a five, right? So it multiplies and it releases over a thousand times more energy. Like, can you grasp that? That's crazy, right? And that's the reason I wanted to share that with you guys because it's important to understand the the strength, right? And the energy and the wave size that's released. And now the last thing is the shaking versus the magnitude. So local intensity, how hard the ground shakes where you stand depends on your distance from the epicenter and the type of soil under your feet, which makes sense, right? Um, I think that's pretty straightforward. So soft ground, loose soil uh or sand can trap and amplify shaking, making the quake feel stronger in some spots rather than others. That's pretty straightforward. Same thing with, you know, if you're in a softer soil, like maybe soil such as closer to a mountain or a volcano. First of all, the ground shaking, volcano shaking, will release such energy that will cause all that earth to fall down to the ground because it's shaking so hard. Thus it's easier, right? It's a little bit more loose, as it's saying here. And that's what you see a lot of those things happening, right? But this is a great example also in houses. The strength of your house or the strength of your building will kind of dictate how much and how strong you feel the earthquake, right? And the more sturdy something is, whether it's the ground and or the building, then you feel it less, right? And I wanted to share that with you guys because it's a science that people don't really fully think about. But once you hear it and read it, you're like, man, so you're telling me that each time a number goes up, it's a certain, it's not a one-to-one ratio, you know? That means it's multiplying and energy uh that's released and the wave size and the shake magnitude, all of that. And when I found that out, I was like, wow. So that's why when you hear like a seven or an eight, and I don't know when the last time I heard of a nine, to be honest, I heard of eights before. Um, and definitely seven's the one that I experienced. Mine, ours in our country in El Salvador was closer. Um, and the ones that's happened recently, closer to that, to that eight, going up to that eight scale. And, you know, as explained, the farther you are from where it starts, the less you'll feel it. The closer you are,

How A Small Quake Triggers Vigilance

SPEAKER_00 37:10

then the worse it is, right? And that's um kind of wild. You know, recently I went to El Salvador in March and I was in a building. I was in an Airbnb, but that was a building. I think I was on like the eighth floor or something like that. And maybe had like a total of 13 floors, you know, not a crazy, it's not a skyscraper, you know. But it started shaking, and then earthquake happened while I was there. And the way the ground feels, it's so it's so different that you know what it is. And you I grab my bed and I look up and it's shaking. Earthquake, and I get up really fast, and I'm thinking about stepping out soon, you know, start going downstairs, right? But it stopped. Right? See, see how this is the this is what most of the times happens. You feel the earthquake, okay, still shaking, start moving. But you still are in the it's not strong enough yet, almost because that happens more often and it stops. And you're like, okay, stop. Let's be on, let's be hyper-vigilant, let's be aware, let's be aware, and then okay, nothing happened. And then maybe another small one happens, you know, a little okay, you're aware again. Okay, stopped. That's what your brain goes through because you know what it's like, and you know what it is, right? And in the video that I saw today, it was literally that it's happening, it's happening, it's moving, it's moving, it's moving, you know. And step outside, but as the earth keeps shaking and keeps moving, you start seeing the strength, you start seeing what you're in, and it lasts again seconds to minutes, you know, at its peak, but the destruction is crazy, man. I mean, earth and God built something so powerful, it's unbelievable. It's truly, truly unbelievable what you see. When people tell you it looks like out of a movie, it's because it's so surreal to them. It's something that it's not normal, it's so abnormal that it's hard to explain because you're in it, and it's almost like um your mind kind of like steps out of your body because the fight or flight's kinking in, and your mind is just thinking of either protecting your family or protecting yourself, but there's not much more going on there, and then probably praying, right? You see a lot of videos that you will see um, you know, in the upcoming months, you'll see it's uh it's it's that, and you start hearing the prayers, and and some more people are more scared than others, right? Either more people uh are less afraid of what happens to them, and or and or they're less scared because they're used to it. But people have different reactions, and you know, I'm not trying to find out what I will be like now, how I will react, but I know when this happened in El Salvador, it's just that same sentiment, that same feeling, and the vigilance, okay, shaking, grounds moving, not normal, run, go outside, right? And there was people there that ran outside. I did a run outside, right? Now, was I afraid that the building could possibly fall? Yes, but because of I knew what was happening to that point, which a lot of people who lose their life also believe know what's happening, so they don't they don't kind of waste their time to run outside. I made it, I made it to the stairs, and then I looked outside the window and I saw people running out. But by the time earthquake had stopped, and I could hear people yelling, go outside, because there were um I believe there were some Americans in uh there as well. Go outside, correct, you know, run, go outside, and I saw them outside, but the earthquake had stopped. So if it stopped, you know, I'm I decided just to stay in because it was pretty quickly, it happened so fast. But I knew as soon as there was continuance, and I knew that if it kept shaking, I need to go fast before the main energy hits you. Because that's when it'll shake the building, that's when you can't walk, you can't run, and you're stuck in this in the place that you were caught

What To Do When It Hits

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in. You know, that's how it goes. And um it's uh it's a feeling, man. You know, uh, like for here in America, where you see more often it's the tornadoes, right? See a lot of tornadoes um in the Midwest. And I've never been around once, so I'm sure somebody who's been around tornadoes more than I have, I'll probably be more scared and probably not what to not know what to do as much, right? Similar goes vice versa. So it's just Mother Nature and sometimes where you're at, man. That's tough. Um, but I didn't want you guys to have a some ears and some imagination of what it feels like someone with an experience in experiencing earthquakes as bad as it sounds. Um and I hope that it made more sense to you and it made more sense what people go through, maybe for awareness too. You know, if you ever go, you guys travel, right? If you're in America, you guys travel to third world countries and other countries, and if it ever happens, run out of the building. Don't get anything. Run, run your behind out of the building. Stay in a place where it can be sturdy and you can grab onto uh, like a big tree, for example. Those are typically good spots, you know. I mean, I mean there's a chance a branch falls on you, but for the most part, it's better than being under a building or next to a wall of a building. I saw another video on my algorithm that the building shook, and there was a family under a um walking on the sidewalk while it Was happening, you know, trying to get away, and the all the walls just fell on them, right? And I was like, man, you know, sometimes you try to do your best, but life happens. Man, that's tough. Thinking about and seeing that, that was that truly is man, it's hard. But yeah, run out, you know, and the being in the middle of the street, it's probably not the worst idea where there is nothing that can fall on you, you know, where maybe you can just shake on the ground, assuming that the the ground you're in is sturdy enough and it won't split, you know, and it won't harm you, right? Things like that you need to consider. And you have to consider that quickly. Remember, these are seconds and minutes that you're talking about. You don't have too much time. So if you do decide, yeah, you know, to to to go to you know places like this where things are more active, you know, or canoes activity and maybe some uh tectonic plates and and and and lines, right? Um fault lines, you know, just this is why I'm I'm talking to you about this. It's an open conversation. Uh I want to bring more awareness to things, um, you know, and and and and hopefully, uh God willing, you don't go through this, but if you do, just just just just just remember that timeline, how it feels, or how I'm describing it to you. Um and and and and you reminisce, you know, on something like that. Again, I hope that any of you guys listening to this never happens to you. But if you've experienced a small earthquake, you kind of know what it feels like the ground to move. But when you start seeing buildings move that are not supposed things move that are not supposed to move, the ground move, um, solid foundation move, uh, solid rocks and uh other things splitting and cracking and opening and falling, that is that is the the crazy part. That is that is where like you're like, dude, it you feel Mother Nature, and it's rough and it's tough, man, and there's not much that we can do in our power, you know. So um, again, all the love and prayers and condolences and you know for the people that that lost their lives in these earthquakes over the summer uh in Venezuela and then what just happened today in Colombia, and for the rest of the world who's experienced who experienced things, you know, with fan with Mother Nature, it's tough. It's really, really um uh rough moments for them. So uh prayers, love. Um, all I can do on my end, you know, is try to bring um you guys to to listen to to almost what it's like and um you know experiences, you know, and share those. I feel like today's just my heart, it was something important to share. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to share something when the the

Faith, Mental Battles, And Farewell

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thing happens what happened. It's just in my life at the moment, I'm going through some family matters that God willing we come out of soon, and then we start moving forward. I will disclose those, you know, in the future and just let you guys know what's happening. It's uh tough moments, um, unfortunate moments. And all we can do is just pray um, you know, for peace and for God to keep us to keep us safe and and give us that wisdom, you know, that strength, that spiritual strength. So I will keep you guys updated. I have interesting podcasts that I'm thinking about um doing. There are some people that I'm planning already on hosting, you know, soon, especially with the football season coming on. But um, I just been I had to take it slow for myself, for my sanity. Um, you know, you forget that sometimes um the mental and the spiritual warfare can affect your physical body. Literally, it's tough, it's hard, and you forget that those battles are are really strong and they're real. You forget they're real, and once you're in it, you're reminded, you know, and thus we come close in hopes you come close to the Lord and we come close to the Lord and try to fight those battles. But I promise I'll get back, I'll share more of that later on. You know, some of my closest friends and family members they know what's going on. But um, but yeah, that's the reason I haven't been too active. But I did want to share this again. All the love tell the people if you have friends and family, I love you, um, Jesus loves you, God loves you, and just wanted to share this um, you know, this quick, quick podcast. And I hope that you know, something um you you learn something from it, um, or you at least learn from something from an uh the an experience of what it's like, even though it, you know, it was what 25 years ago now. Wow, I'm old. I am old. See the gray hairs that are happening in my hair. If you're watching this on YouTube, geez my goodness. But as always, um, thank you, family, family, for uh listening to my podcast. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. Maybe share your experience and in the comment section on what it's like. Uh if you've been in one or maybe other um nature events that you've gone through, I would love to hear your experience. Um, don't forget that you can listen to this podcast in uh all the audio platforms. Uh, you can subscribe to them as well, subscribe to the channel to show me some love if you like. And you know, we're our views are are going up, and it's the the the podcast is growing naturally, organically, which I love. And I'm getting to share uh a little bit more. So thank you guys. I'll see you guys in the next one. And as always, peace and love, me familia. See you guys next time.