The Earthquake of 1999

I experienced the very first earthquake in my life on the morning of 12th December 1999.I was 3 kms. away from home and was on the way to school.The time was a few minutes past 7 and I was having a breakfast of Dosa and Chutney from Keerthi Restaurant,Pinnakkanad.I finished my breakfast and was moving towards the wash basin.
Suddenly there was a booming sound and the restaurant trembled.It was like a huge diesel generator being started from the roof top.
One guy pushed me aside and ran out to the road.I was second to join him,leaving my school bag and umbrella inside.
Outside,the electric lines were swinging violently;Crows ,pigeons and other birds were off in the sky,flying noisly and irregularly.Dogs howled and was seen panicked.A rubber tree tapper came running towards us.He said that the tin roofed shed where he rested vibrated heavily and noisly and thus he made a run towards the street.Like him,no one as aware of what was happening...There was fear on everyones face.
On the road, vehicles passed on normally,unaware of the quake.i also noticed a school boy walking to his tuition class.He was such a nerd that he did not even noticed the tremblings that happened just beneath his feet.He did not even noticed the groups of people by the road side with feared faces.There was no destruction or damages in sight.
The fear began to alleviate and everyone began questioning each other;what is it?What's happening/happened?Some one said it was an earthquake.I and a few made another point based on the India-pakisthan war on Kargil that ended just a few months before.We asked if it was a bomb by Pakisthan?Is some place in Kerala being attacked?Is Pakisthan taking revenge for the Kargil War failure?Some people said it could be.It could be an earthquake or a bombing.Everyone wanted to hear the radio and TV news.after 10-15 minutes,my bus to school arrived on time.I boarded the bus and all my co passengers looked normal.I and a few people told about the quake to the passengers.It was then that the passengers and the bus staff came to know about the quake.By the time the bus reached Erattupetta,(15 minutes later),everybidy was discussing about the earthquake.
It was examination time at our school but everybody was talking about the quake.During examination, a few mild after shocks occured.The boom sound seemed to come from the underground.during such tremors,I too felt something like my heart being blocked and unable to talk.
later I came to knew that many schools send their students out of their classes to the ground during after shocks.The next days saw emergency evacuation drills at many schools.
I did not had a sound sleep for the next few nights.I kept the doors and windows of my room open at night.I woke up for almost every tremors at night.
another quake occured on a morning, a few days later.Telephone exchanges were jammed for a few minutes after this quake.aftershocks and mild tremors continued for the next 15-20 days.
At the same time another strange phenomenon was happening all over Kerala.
Water wells belonging to house holds began to disappear..!The wells caved in or sinked in by themselves.Sometimes this happened silently,at night or after a rain.Imagine the shock of a house wife going to fetch water from the well and finding just a mud pit in place of the well.
scientists and news papers further added to the confusion of the public.Scientists of various government agencies made different statements and baseless findings.News papers and Gov. agencies differed in stating the epi-center of the quake and the quakes effect on Richter Scale.
The people lived in fear and panic for the next few months,thanks to the Gov. agencies and news papers.