Tony Overman/The Olympian
Magda Mendi was on her daily walk along Madrona Beach Road on Wednesday morning when a landslide from U.S. Highway 101 (background) came rumbling down a few feet away. "It was so big! I wanted to tell somebody, but nobody was home," Mendi said.

Dealing with the emotional aftershock

LORRINE THOMPSON, THE OLYMPIAN

THURSTON COUNTY -- Wednesday unfolded as a beautiful morning for 87-year-old Magda Mendi's daily exercise walk along Madrona Beach Road.

When the ground started shaking and Mendi heard an indescribable roar, she walked faster, fearing an earthquake after having lived in California for years.

Within seconds of quickening her pace, tons of earth slid down a nearby hill and swept across the road where she had just walked. Mendi saw the slide coming toward her, heard the snap of large trees as they came tumbling down.

A survivor of the Spanish Civil War, when her village of Guernica was bombed in 1937, Mendi said Wednesday's earthquake frightened her more than any other experience in her life.

"This is my hardest experience. I got so choke," said Mendi, speaking in a strong Basque accent that intensifies when she describes her feelings. "The noise was so terrible I can't believe it. Big trees all coming down. It was so scary, I can't explain it."

The rest of Wednesday, "I hardly move, and spend all day laying on the couch, doing nothing."

She also began talking to her family about the bombing of her village, something she does only rarely in times of trauma, said her son, Frank Mendizabal.

What Mendi experienced was a stress response, a mild shock at having witnessed and survived a natural disaster, South Sound mental health workers said.

It's a natural reaction that many South Sound and Western Washington residents may feel in the next few days or weeks, without realizing the reason for their anxiety, psychotherapist Molly Staley said.

People having trouble sleeping, who become easily startled or feel unusually anxious "will think they're crazy," Staley said. "It's a normal response to an abnormal situation. That's the key that I want people to understand."

The Crisis Clinic already has begun receiving calls from people having trouble sleeping and eating, without being sure why, Executive Director Bev Petersen said.

"It's a kind of low-level anxiety. A lot of people won't know what's causing it. They won't feel a cause and effect with the earthquake," Petersen said.

But the clinic staff has studied information from crisis clinics in San Francisco after a major earthquake in 1989, and know that people experience a variety of post-traumatic stress symptoms after such events.

Why such anxiety, when injuries and damage could have been so much worse?

The earthquake was a sudden and shocking event completely out of people's control and out of their usual frames of reference, Staley said.

Even if they were not harmed, they were extremely vulnerable to harm, and so were their families and loved ones.

Thousands were displaced from offices and schools and normal transportation routes, a significant example of how nature almost ripped up their lives.

Teachers and officials of Lincoln Elementary School in Olympia, where children will have to be shifted to other locations during repairs, are preparing for feelings of stress and dislocation among students, Principal Cheryl Petra said.

"The children are coming back from trauma, so we need to have our space calm and ourselves centered," Petra said. Teachers will spend Monday getting temporary classrooms ready, rather than subjecting children to moving chaos.

Some residents were reminded of their vulnerability during Wednesday's quake, Staley said.

One clinic client who uses a wheelchair felt helpless as the quake hit, and she waited to be wheeled to a nearby doorjamb. Others were in vulnerable positions, such as lying in hospital beds or on massage tables with little clothing.

For some people, the event triggered memories of past traumas, Staley said.

She knows of one Vietnamese refugee who experienced strong anxiety about being separated from his family, and a woman who had survived an Alaskan earthquake but who ran outside screaming.

"So many people have a varied response to the same things," said Staley, who worked with refugees in Croatia.

What's most important is for residents to feel comfortable that their anxiety is real and is justified, and that it's OK to talk about it, or listen to others' feelings, she said.

"Acknowledge it as an experience that everyone had," she said.

As for Magda Mendi, she shared her experiences with her son. She felt listless Wednesday, still shaken Thursday and felt strong enough to go for a hair appointment Friday.

"She's tough," said Mendizabal, who was shocked to see his strong mother with red, stunned eyes shortly after the earthquake.

"I'm OK now," Mendi said cheerfully Friday. "You come see the hole (where the landslide occurred). It's immense. You can't believe how it looks."

Lorrine Thompson covers Thurston County and health care for The Olympian. She can be reached at 754-5431.

Recognize signs of stress

The shocking suddenness and strength of earthquakes, and the vulnerability people feel during them, can trigger normal stress and anxiety responses, such as:

- Difficulty concentrating.

- Difficulty sleeping.

- Fear of returning to the place you were during the quake.

- Anxiousness about the safety of family, friends and self.

- Irritability and withdrawal from normal feelings or activities.

- Body aches and fatigue caused by stress and adrenaline.

- Unwanted memories of other traumatic events.

These and other feelings should be discussed with family, friends, crisis line workers or counselors. If the feelings persist or appear after a month, you may be experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome. Consider seeking counseling.

For more information, someone to talk to, or referral to resources, call the Crisis Clinic at 586-2800.

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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