When juniors Gracie Tucker, Bailey Warpula and bby Feenstra signed up for Harding l niversity in Latin Am rica (HUL ), they did n t realize that earthquakes were a part of the package. Throughout the spring 2017 semester, the group experienced a variety of earthquake , a, \veU as after hocks. While on the trip student rayed in Roca Blanca, an apartment complex located on the Pacific coast in Chile. During one of the fir r earthquakes, Tucker was itting in her living room with her roommates. They felt everything shake around them but were confu ed at what to d since many of them had never experienced an earthquake before. "\Y/e started to feel it, and we looked up," Tucker said. "Then we looked back [down]. \Xie looked up again at each other, and were like, 'Wait, do we need to be doing something?" Feen tra wa also in the apartment when the magnitude 5.0 earthquake occurred. "[When] we realized we were in an earthquake, l was freaked out," eenstra aid. Most of the earthquakes the HULA group experienced were just small in cale, ranging from magnitudes 4.~ to 5.0 on the Richter scale; h wever, they also experienced an earthquake that registered at a magnitude 6.9. arpula wa in a corner. tore in t ,,·n when the earthquake hit. "E erything started shaking really badly," '.; arpula said. ''The monitor in the store started shaking, and the ceiling fans looked like they were about to come out of the ceiling. You could hear drinks and bottles clinking - it was really loud." Warpula's fir t thought wa to run outside, which she later learned wa the wor t thing to d . The local all scrambled to the doon.vay, which wa the afe t place to stand during the earthquake b cause that was where the building was the mo t stable. \1 arpula quickly followed suit, aware that the locals knew " hat to do. "I felt like I needed to crouch down and cover my head," arpula said. "I just felt so powerless." The group al o experienced a magnitude 7.1 earthquake on April 24, 2017, which caused a tsunami warning in the area. Feen tra was walking out of the clas room and heading back to her apartment._ hen it happened. "I booked it back inside, and all of u were just huddled together," Feenstra aid. "\1 e were under the door frame, my suitemate were under a cable and my other suitemates were hiding under some other door frame. e were all just freaking out." ven though the group was terrified of the earthquakes, they still found ways to be thankful, and none from the group were hurt. ''When the big earthquake ended and no one was harmed, I felt a sigh of relief," Feenstra aid. HULA visits Peru during heir time in South America in spring 2017. They had the opportunity to take a ride on he Amazon River on May 27, 2017. II Photo courtesy of Bronson Crabtree S udents take pictures of Fitz Roy, a mountain in Patagonia, Chile, to remember their time abroad. During the first part of the spring 2017 semester, HULA visited Patagonia, Chile, on March 1, 2017. II Photo courtesy of Bronson Crabtree Several earthquakes made for an interesting semester in Vina del Mar, Chile. Junior Bailey Warpula discovered he door frame of a building 1s the safest place to stand during an earthquake while she was at the come-store in Vina del Mar, Chile, during a magnitude 6.9 earthquake. II Photo courtesy of Bronson Crabtree I C £: c..> U1
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