Stefano Marinelli<p>I remember this day well in 2012. I turned off the light at 1:15 of the night on May 20th after reading a book on my Kindle. I felt a slight tremor. It was said that it wasn't a seismic zone, so I thought it was just the tail end of a distant quake. I looked for information on my phone but found nothing. At 4:03 in the morning, I woke up to a strong quake. I heard objects falling and glass breaking (which I later found out were from my neighbor's house), everything was shaking, and suddenly, I started hearing the sounds of buildings collapsing. I was 10 km from the epicenter but only found out hours later. I immediately turned on the light, but the power went out. When the power came back, all phone lines were down, but my trusty 1mbit/sec ADSL was working. I was alone at home. I went outside and, having experience with earthquakes, urged my neighbors (still in disbelief) to run to the end of the street, to a parking lot away from all buildings. Roof tiles could fall. Strong aftershocks followed in the minutes after. They would continue for months, and occasionally, you can still feel them.</p><p>There were many collapses in the area. Together with a neighbor (a surveyor), we inspected the building and found no visible problems. It was a recent building, only a few years old. I went back inside to have breakfast around 5, much to the surprise of my neighbors who were urging me to leave. I turned on TV and news were still uncertain. They were just talking about a very strong earthquake in the norther part of Bologna. There were strong tremors all day long. It was a strange day. My friends wanted me to go to their place, far away. I decided to stay. My neighbors wanted me to go with them to the shopping center parking lot to sleep in the car. I stayed home. Some neighbors slept in tents in their gardens for months out of fear. That night, I just slept dressed on the couch. </p><p>There are many other details of that day that will stay in my mind forever.</p><p><a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/Earthquake" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Earthquake</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/EmiliaRomagna" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>EmiliaRomagna</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/Memories" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Memories</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/NaturalDisaster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>NaturalDisaster</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/Community" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Community</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/Survival" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Survival</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/ADayToRemember" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ADayToRemember</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/2012Quake" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>2012Quake</span></a> <a href="https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/tags/SeismicActivity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SeismicActivity</span></a></p>