Life Event- Volcano Eruption

The task was to write a 200-500 word summary of something interesting that had happened in your life. It was also aimed at how it had changed you, making you what you are today.

The thing I chose was the volcanic eruption from back home in 1999.

The story and video can be found below:

I remember like it was yesterday, let me take you back to 1999. My family and I were watching the news around the dinner table a few days prior to the incident. There had been previous warnings that the volcano Guagua Pichincha was active again.

We lived in Quito, the capital of Ecuador where the skies plummeted into darkness that morning. It was 7am, I had just woken up and was getting ready for school when we turned on the news. The volcano had erupted for a second time that week. That day however, at 7:12am when the city was coming to life, a huge cloud of ash formed in the sky. It was a spectacle of a different nature, fearsome yet impressive. The cloud formed a Giant Mushroom, something that until then, I’d never seen. Eight minutes later there was a second explosion, followed by the last one at 8:07am.

As the country was put on Yellow alert, schools & businesses were closed. We had to use masks when stepping outside, due to the falling ash. The city went into panic and chaos. The grey substance that fell was like snow (something we don’t really have over there). I recall a spec falling onto my hands; I rubbed it between two fingers and watched how it spread and disappeared. Later on, we were advised not to go out unless necessary and to bring any pets indoors. The ash continued to fall during that day. My family and I stayed inside and gathered around the lounge to play games and things to distract us from reality.

This incident made me realise that anything could happen. It made me eager to take control of my life, and appreciate what I have achieved and done so far. Looking back, there was probably some kind of horror aspect to it, though at the age of 9 I was probably naïve and didn’t really understand how serious it was. I’ll never forget what it looked like, and thanks to modern technology I can revisit photographs of the incident as many times as I like.