Lorca after the earthquake

The life is slowly coming back to normality. It is Monday, for many the first day of work after ¨terremoto¨. There is a lot of people on the streets slowly moving in the direction of their working place. I am one of them. It is and it is not hot and cold in the same time. For the first time I take some of the small streets and as the majority I try to avoid the side walk. I have time to discover which houses are green and which red. Many roads are closed so I am walking around like the tourist who lost his way. I am talking out my camera to take a photo of the places I liked. I don´t enjoy taking photos of destroyed buildings, I prefer to picture the life on the streets. Almost everything is new, just the habit of drinking a coffee with friends in the morning didn’t change.

For me the proof that everything come back to the reality is when I see the people selling lottery, although there is not a big interests in lottery today. I guess we already used all our luck. Streets looks like ¨after the earthquake¨ but the people used to this view. There is only one place that is different, in each sense – acampamiento, that many of my friends call refugee camp.

Acampamiento it is the now home for over 2000 people, who lost their houses during the terremoto. Most of them are migrants with the few exceptions – gypsies. My first impression about his place is that it looks like the prison. From outside there are grating. People are communicating with their friends who are on the other side through them. Inside there is a fight for survival. Besides those lucky one who managed to get place in the tent, many people still live without the roof, making beds from cartoons and, houses from the blankets they got, which pretend to be a walls. No roof included and the weather forecast is not promising. Cold and raining.

It took them just few days in acampamiento to developed their new culture, and change the daily habits. Over there, there is a fight for survival. They sleep, pass their time in the queues for everything, and protect what they have (in case they rescued something from house, or got necessary things from other people). A friend of mine was almost robbed of shampoo, which cost only 1€ but over there is worth much more. Almost no one have tooth brush or past. People are afraid of each other. This place change people in the very strange way. And they are monitored by police, army, volunteers or people from red cross. That they are over there partly voluntary (they can leave, but they don´t have other place to go), they are watched, they have no privacy, and what they have is a bracelet with the number to be easy to identify.
To be continued…

How I have survived the earthquake in Lorca

It was something that I would have never expected. It was the day when I came back from my holidays in Poland. I had some difficulties to come back because my plane was delayed, and I couldn’t find any bus or train going to Lorca. Finally I have arrived on 11th of May in the morning and went to work.



I returned back home after over 3 weeks away. The only thing I was able to do was unpack myself, make my laundry, take a shower, and go to sleep. Then it started. I didn’t know what is happening; I have just seen tons of birds flying very fast in one direction. I felt that everything is shaking, my cupboard falling down, but I couldn’t say what it is. I don’t know when I stand up and how long was the earthquake. I just went out of my room looking for my roommate that was at home just before I went to sleep, but she wasn’t there. The doors were bright open. I still wasn’t sure what have happened. There were things on the floor but I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or not.



I went out to the balcony and I saw unusually big amount of people on the streets. A lot of them were crying, a lot of them felt lost and shocked. I had a strong feeling to go on the streets as well, but I wasn’t rational. I found my mobile and money and I felt my home as I was standing – actually as I was sleeping.



I had to sit down. I did it close to my home and I was observing people for a while. It looked nice. Besides some people who cried, I saw very nice atmosphere and the bar close to my home had a very good day. All the people were getting out of this place with coffee or beer. Many people were chatting and they looked happy. I guess I was still in shock, I was alone and I didn’t know what really happened. My neighborhood looked good I thought.



Then my phone started ringing. I don’t know who was the first one checking on me. I talked to some people from my organization and my roommate called to tell me that one more earthquake, the stronger one is coming in 30 minutes. It was the moment that I fully realized what is happening around and I started thinking about my own safety as well as safety of people I know.

To be continue…