Santiago stands firm but for ...

I was awoken from a heavy sleep by the characteristic sly shaking of a tremor. I leapt from my bed in the dark and ran to hold up the glass cabinet in the dining room, as I usually do during tremors in Santiago, Chile.

Soon, though, the entire building was rocking widely with a deafening roar, the roar of a building in critical stress, and then I realized in absolute horror that this was the big one, at long last, the earthquake you are taught from childhood to expect and fear, the one that changes history and geography, the one that can kill you.

There's no use running: That could be far worse. Stay where you are, and wait.