I'm sure that everybody has heard about the earthquake that took place in California.

I have heard people say that the whole thing was pushed by the media, but I don't think the whole thing is a farce.

My sister and father were there. They were in California looking at colleges for her. They were in Santa Cruz, the epicenter of the quake, but left before it actually took place. They were supposed to stay in Berkeley at the time of the quake, but were visiting relatives in San Francisco and got stuck there for the night.

Timing is what kept them alive. Just hours before it collapsed, my sister and dad drove over the Bay Bridge. When they reached San Francisco, they took a stroll along the boardwalk at Fisherman's Wharf. Not long after that, the entire section burst into flames.

My mother and I had no idea they were even in San Francisco. We were on the phone with them when they felt a second tremor. They said they would call us back the next chance they could.

When we discovered where they were, I prayed to God to keep them alive. That was the only thing I could do. The building they were in was relatively earthquake proof, and they hardly felt it at all. But when we see what happened to other people (and their families), we realized how much fate had played in their survival.

Now that we have settled back into our routine life, I wonder what it would be like to be without my sister and father. n