I was sitting on the sofa at 5.10am yesterday morning (01
August), minding my own business, reading Surah Khaf, when suddenly the ground
beneath my feet and the walls around me started shaking gently but then very
violently and a huge roar filled my ears. Did I say my shahada and rush to the nearest
door lentil, or even outside? No….that
would be the most sensible thing to do.
No, I just sat transfixed, rooted to the spot, saying ‘SubhanAllah’ over
and over again, because I was so overcome by the might of Allah, and absolutely
scared witless, wondering was it ever going to end. I heard somewhere it lasted around 17 seconds
and I just cannot understand how come those 17 seconds could go on and on and
on, and any other time 17 seconds is no time at all.
As soon as it stopped I rushed up the stairs (the weakest
part of any house, but all the family were upstairs), to see if everyone was
ok. Our youngest had been woken up by it
but I think he would have gone back to sleep if everyone else wasn’t up. My eldest son was fast asleep in bed and none
too happy to be woken up after the event – not even an earthquake was a good
enough reason to rouse him from his sleep.
The last big earthquake here in Algeria was in May 2003
which killed many and injured more and was absolutely devastating. We arrived
in the country in October of that year and experienced many aftershocks and
tremors for several months afterwards.
But these were over before you realised it and often were nothing more
than a gentle swaying back and forth, so didn’t really scare me in the
least. But the one yesterday was 5.6 and
quite close and I found myself shaking.
My eldest daughter gave me a hug and I told her that either there was
another tremor or she was shaking too!
There were several after tremors which were very frightening simply
because you didn’t know if they were going to continue to increase to a much
stronger force or if they were simply after-tremors.
We could hear all the neighbours outside, but there wasn’t
any screaming or any other hysteria which I heard occurred in other
neighbourhoods. Both of my husband’s sisters rang to know if we were ok and
when I went on Facebook I realised everyone else around the Algiers region had
felt it too. Some people had things
flung out of cupboards and off shelves, but Alhamdulilah the death toll was
small with reports of 6 people killed, some of whom died after jumping from
apartments and others from heart attacks and 420 people injured.
It really is an amazing and frightening thing to have the
ground under your feet move and in such a violent way, and yes, while I know
all about how earthquakes come about with earth plates moving against each
other etc. etc. it still takes an Almighty Power to create it all in sync so
that it all comes together, at that minute, and in that place to scare the
living daylights of us and wake us up out of our complacency to question our
lives and our priorities and see all the trivia in our lives for what it is – a
mere distraction from our purpose in life, to worship this Almighty Power,
Allah, and to grow in our knowledge of our deen (religion) and to move
purposefully through our lives towards Him.
Within minutes yesterday after the earthquake I also thought
of those people around the world who live in this kind of fear 24 hours a day,
7 days a week for months and years, and, of course, especially at the moment
those people in Gaza who are being totally annihilated. We had several small aftershocks in the hours
after the earthquake yesterday and since then, every time I hear a lorry rumbling down a road
outside or a neighbour bangs a door very violently I stop and look at the light
fixtures to check if they are moving. I
had just 17 seconds of terror which has made me jittery…..what must it be like
for them? I just cannot imagine it! And I feel so awful and so guilty that they
are going through something so horrendous and I’m not doing anything about it
all just living in my own safe life getting upset and worried over absolutely
nothing. Dua (supplication) is the
weapon of the believer, so…..may Allah watch over all my brothers and sisters
living under oppression and fear throughout the world, bless them with victory
over their oppressors, strengthen their iman, bless them with patience and strength
to cope with their huge test, and give them freedom from fear and hunger and
shower them with all the blessings He has bestowed on me and mine. Ameen.
Amazing what can come from just 17 seconds isn’t it?????
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