The "earthquake" occurred at 1:50 p.m. Parents were asked to leave home at 1:50 p.m. and walk to school (most families live nearby) to pick up their child in person.
Lucinda told me what happened after the teacher announced, Earthquake! The kids duck under the nearest table. When the shaking stops, her teacher hands out silver, pointed, padded hoods that the children wear to protect them from falling debris and (I assume, because of the silver fabric) to keep them warm.
When I arrived at the kindergarten at about 2:20 p.m., school administrators in white helmets were waiting outside.
Lucinda and her classmates, in their hoods, were sitting quietly at a table reading books. Lucinda told me not to laugh about the hood, and she looks a little sheepish here. (I warned her that I was bringing my camera.)
I had to present an emergency card to her teacher before she could leave with me.
Then her teacher praised her for sitting quietly and following directions, and Lucinda walked to the ground-floor window and climbed out. (Here's a photo of her classmate doing the same.)
I have bought boxed emergency supplies - three days of food, water and a blanket - but some people have cookstoves, fuel, boxes of canned goods and thousands of dollars in cash in their homes, just in case.
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