Yesterday was a typical Friday afternoon. We were at home. I was working on a blog post, and my husband was relaxing with our dogs on the sofa.

Then the shaking started.

After about 10 seconds, I said, “Oh, we’re getting another earthquake.” We’d had one a couple of months ago.

After 30 seconds, I said, “This is about as big as the last one.”

The shaking continued. Doors in our apartment that were not secured started moving back and forth. The whole building started to sway.

After two minutes, we just looked at each other. “I can’t believe it’s still going.” That’s when it started to feel scary.

With the building swaying, I went to get a pair of shoes, and moved to the doorway of the apartment. The JRT, forever my dog, came over and sat at my feet. My husband also got a pair of shoes. I called the Doxie over to me at the door – he jumped off the sofa and came over, wagging his tail. I think he thought this was a new game. I really just wanted him away from our floor-to-ceiling windows.

After what felt like another eternity, but was probably another 30 seconds, the shaking stopped. The swaying continued for at least another three or four minutes. We stayed by the door the whole time.

Even after the swaying stopped, it still felt like the building was moving for a while afterward – kind of like the sensation you get after you step off a boat and you feel like you’re still on the water. First thing we did was check the rest of the apartment – walls and windows were free of any damage. Nothing fell out of our kitchen cupboards, which is better than what i’ve heard happened with others.

Mr. RO looked off our balcony to the courtyard below – our building shares a park with two other buildings. He reported that there were many people down there. Traffic was gridlocked on the roads around us for as far as you could see.

We knew based on our years living in California that being in a highrise, your best course of action is to stay in the building and locate yourself as close to a load bearing wall. That’s why we stayed close to our doorway and away from the windows.

The final reports say that the earthquake was measured as a 7.7. Many aftershocks followed, including at least two that were over 6.0. Every time the building started to sway, we’d head immediately to the door. Even the dogs figured it out by the end of the day.

We were fortunate on a number of fronts. Panamà has implemented some very strict building codes around earthquake safety. They work; as of this writing there have been no building collapses in Panamà City as a result of the earthquake. The building we are in is less than 20 years old and so has all of the latest design requirements built in (it was something we looked for before moving in). There’s no getting around that the swaying was very scary. I’m sure it was amplified because we are on the 37th floor. We are in a 50 storey building – I can’t imagine what it felt like at the top.

Improbably enough, we didn’t lose power throughout the whole event. Nor did we lose internet access, or water pressure. Other areas in the city had low water pressure for a while, and there was a brief potable water warning, but that was cleared by last night. Our gas service was shut off, though, and will not be turned on again until the entire system is inspected. We were prepared to wait weeks for this, but amazingly enough, it sounds like that will happen on Tuesday. It’s a good thing I brought my air fryer and Instant Pot!

After a couple of hours, we ventured outside. For a while the elevators in the building had been programmed to bring people down, but not up. We were happy to see that there was only minor cosmetic damage to the building.

We then tried to go to our local supermarket to get some supplies. On our first attempt, we drove and the store was open but the parking lot closed. We parked our car at home and walked over, and by that time the store had closed, as had most of the stores in the area. We’re lucky we had food that didn’t need the oven or stove last night. We haven’t ventured out yet today, but we’ve heard most things are open.

I’m very touched that my phone started to buzz within 30 minutes of the event. News of the earthquake had been published worldwide. Over the course of the next several hours I heard from many friends and family around the world checking up on us.

For us, it underscored the importance of being prepared for an emergency. If we’d had to evacuate, we’ve already discussed what we need to take with us. Important documents. Small electronics. Hard drive with pictures. Medicine. Dogs. Those are all ready at hand and portable. While there are other things that would be nice, at the end of the day, what’s really important we can carry with us.

For my part, I’m very much hoping that with “the big one” out of the way, Panamà won’t see another earthquake of that magnitude for a long time.

(Featured photo: this was taken less than a mile from our building. While it looks bad, the structural integrity of the building is fine.)