A few weeks ago Nicaragua was struck by a Hurricane. Having just relocated inland we were not in danger, however many of our friends and family were still on the coast and were getting ready for the storm. I've never been in any kind of natural disaster in my life, so I really didn't know what to expect. As the storm was coming closer information was a bit sketchy. We kept hearing about it on Instagram but as far as local news was concerned nothing was going on.As it got closer however the media started paying attention. The storm was downgraded to a tropical storm, but then back up to a category three hurricane shortly before making landfall. Our friends on Corn Island were the most concerned, boarding up the windows on the kingdom hall and taking down trees to avoid them falling on houses. Thankfully however the storm took a turn to the south and missed the Islands for the most part. As the storm hit Bluefields we were watching live coverage on TV, when the speaker said "wait... everything is shaking!" a few seconds later we felt it too. As if a hurricane wasn't enough an earthquake hit at the same moment! The table and standing fan in our kitchen started rocking back and forth. Another first for me, I didn't realize it was an earthquake until it had long passed. The shaking barely lasted a second so it was over before we knew what was going on. No damage thankfully, although it turned out to be a 7.2 off the coast of El Salvador.
But it gets better. I was talking to my parents online and telling them about everything as it happened, and my dad thinking it was comical that we had two disasters at once said "You should throw in a Tsunami just for good measure". Literally seconds later the news announced that a tsunami wave would hit the pacific coast of Nicaragua in 30 minutes.
By the end of it all, the damage was very little. The Tsunami did hit the pacific coast, but I guess it didn't have time to gather strength so all that happened is some beaches were a little washed out. The immediate area along the coast was evacuated however. As for us up here in Jinotepe, it had very little effect. We didn't even get rain actually, but it made for an exciting week.
