I am sure all of us will remember,
until the day we die, where we were on the Cayman Islands when the
7.7 mag. earthquake struck.

We even had an aftershock that was just
over 6 mag.

What is incredible is there were no
lives loss, no injuries and no severe damage to properties.

Apart from quite a number of large sink
holes, mainly in the roads, and broken sewage and water pipes, we
escaped by the Grace of God, and I use those words carefully.

I well remember the very first
earthquake I experience and that was also on Grand Cayman soon after
Hurricane Ivan approaching Christmas. It was strong and I felt it,
but it lasted seconds.I felt no fear then Maybe it was because it was
nothing compared to what we had just gone through for thirty plus
hours with the roaring hurricane winds approaching 150 mph. Most of
us were still in some form of shell shock.

Last Tuesday's earthquake lasted over
two minutes and I did register fear.I was very frightened.

I was at home in george Town. With me
was my wife, our helper and a visiting friend.

I was sitting on one of the sofas, my
wife in her recliner chair, the friend in perched comfortably in the
other sofa and our helper was busy cleaning.

It was around 2pm and I was relaxing
when I first heard a deep rumble – a loud one and it seemed close.
I thought at first it was a plane taking off at the Airport that is
near to where I live. But it seemed too close and I wondered if it
was a helicopter but the sound was different. More like a freight
train but there are none of those here in the Caymans. The last time
I heard a sound like that was in England.

Next, I noticed the sofa moving and
then the whole house started to shake. Some photos started to fall
over and one crashed down onto the floor.

I immediately got up and it was then my
legs seemed to be made of jelly. The floor was moving in time with
the rest of the house.

It was then I realised what it was.

“It's an earthquake!” I shouted. I
could feel myself losing balance and had to move swiftly to a jutting
piece of concrete wall that separates the kitchen area from the
lounge. I placed both my arms around it.

Then it stopped. We all rushed for the
front door and the quake started up all over again.

Our helper, who is also a volunteer for
the Red Cross, said we should get into the road but the wires were
swaying to and fro from the telephone and power poles so we stayed
where we were. The three ladies were standing in the doorway holding
onto the door and I was grabbing onto a concrete pillar that
supported the porch roof.

Then the shaking stopped again, but it
started almost immediately.

I was now more than scared but tried
not to show it.

No one screamed but I could see fear on
all faces.

Thankfully, the shaking stopped. All
was calm.

I understand the 'quake lasted two
minutes. It seemed longer than that.

I will always remember it.

Where were you when the Earthquake
struck?