we were close to the center of Lima when the first one hit. We were stopped in traffic and the car moved. First I thought it was my wife shaking a leg... it wasn't. I checked the side and review mirror, thinking someone was shaking the car or trying to steal the tires or something (intensity of the shaking)... then I thought the car behind me was pushing my bumper... moved more forward, shaking continued and intensified. Put the car in Park and gassed up the engine (thought maybe it had thrown a rod or something, getting it out of balance... wasn't that, and the car started JUMPING on the damn road, people out around us grabbing whatever they could grab to stand on their feet. All cars just jumping up and down (like in the movie "Godzilla" when it was walking in the streets and all the cars jumped up and down).... I saw that buildings and road signs and lightposts went into swinging movement, things just got worse and worse. Instinct kicked in and I had the thought: "Have to get out into the free!" ... only to smile at such primitive reaction. There were no tall buildings which could fall on us where we were, and fortunately we were not under any bridge...

It was simply insane how it went. Right after the first one passed, the second quake kicked in with even more force. This went on for over 2 minutes, so there was enough time to really get into the rhytm. At one point it felt as I was getting sea-sick... having lost all sense of balance.

My wife went into panic mode... tried to use the NEXTEL radio phone... but conveniently the NEXTEL network AND all of the mobile phone networks went dead in the quake... and are still out of service. Where we were downtown, many streets around us went into blackout.

So.... this was the real thing.

The epicenter was some 140 km south of Lima, and that's where the strength was 7.5 on Richter, while it was only 6.0 on Richter here in Lima... which explains why I can still see buildings standing.

People everywhere went into panic, fleeing their houses, businesses closed, universities and other institutes closed and everyone got into the streets, making the normally 12 minute trip to home, to more than an hour. Everything is simply insane trafficwise.

Our biggest concern was of course the kids at home, but fortunately nothing happened apart from things falling on the floor. Nothing serious happened in our case, but I am sure others have not been that fortunate.

The quake is reported to have been felt all the way up to Columbia and down to Chile. On the radio just now they were reporting that the ocean ***aftershock right here*** yes, the ocean is retracting... so there is obviously a tsunami coming a bit later.

I did check the time when it finally dawned on me that it was a quake and not someone trying to take away the tires. The quake(s) lasted for 2 minutes. Not the reported one minute or two times 20 seconds. This was one huge bastard with one 5 second or so pause. Definitely a biggie. All hospitals in the country are on red alert, and the current doctor's strike has been called off. Now there are coming in reports of people dead in the streets, after houses falling over them. Lots of looting going on as well (a good time for robbers to come out of their hell holes and feast on the fear of others).

(snip)
(referring to an aftershock) Magnitude 5.9 didn't feel like anything at all... just shook the monitor and the other people in the house did not feel it at all until I made them aware of it (and they all rushed for the exit... while I kept on typing).

The first one(s) were simply incredibly big. It was also impressive how long it lasted... but the most amazing thing (in my view) is the fact that Lima is still standing. I would have expected there to be MASSIVE structural damages everywhere in the country after a quake this big... so I've been wondering ***Aftershock again*** if it's the sandy base lima is built on, which protects the structures from getting the damages that SHOULD occur to the very badly built houses here?