The African Expat

Tuesday morning, 19 January 2010 and I am going about my normal work business in George Town, Grand Cayman. It was about 9.40 am and suddenly I felt a huge tremor, the building I was in started shaking. Needless to say everyone in my building dropped everything that they were doing and rushed outside. Our offices are in downtown George Town and we are on the first floor. It was not a pleasant experience at all and although the tremor lasted all of about 5 seconds, its impression on me will remain with me forever. It was apparently 5.8 on the Richter scale (preliminary magnitude) and one kind of got the sense that it could be back in a big way. Having seen the devastation that an earthquake can cause, (the recent one in Haiti being a case in point) I had a distinct feeling of insecurity as we walked back into the offices after being outside in an open area for about 10 or so minutes.

All the kids that attend a creche downstairs from my workplace were sent home, rightly so because no-one had any knowledge of what would happen as the day progressed. As for me, I will wait to hear from our HR department as to whether we should go home or not. But I can tell you one thing, I would not wish this upon even my worst enemy. It is a terrible feeling!