Lesson 3 Always Aware, Always Prepared
Waking Up to an Earthquake
One night in ____, after I had gone to bed, an earthquake hit.
I woke up suddenly ____ my bed was shaking.
I ____ my brother was shaking my bed as a joke.
But then I heard the mirror on my ____ fall to the floor and break into pieces.
I knew it ____ my brother then, but I still didn’t know what exactly was happening.
Soon the whole room began to shake violently, and my confusion ____ to panic.
My mom shouted that it was an earthquake and ____ into my room.
Since it was my first ____ experiencing an earthquake, I didn’t know how to react.
I just kept saying, “What ____ I do?”
My mom pulled me and my brother out of bed.
We ran to the kitchen and ____ under the table.
I could see the light swinging ____ and books falling to the floor.
Our family picture dropped from the wall and the glass covering it ____.
A cup tipped over and rolled off the kitchen ____.
Every second, I could hear ____ else in the apartment break.
I started to worry that the ____ would collapse.
Then the shaking seemed to ____.
We started crawling ____ the door.
At that ____, my mom’s cell phone rang.
It was my dad, who was coming home ____ work.
He shouted, “It stopped!
Get out of the building! ____ the stairs!
Don’t take the elevator! ____!”
“Where are you? Are you okay?” my mom asked ____.
My dad answered, “Don’t ____. I’m okay.
I was driving home when the ____ started.
But I pulled ____ immediately.
I’m listening to the radio right now to find out ____ going on.”
We nervously ____ our way down the stairs and outside.
I looked around.
Parts of buildings had fallen and had smashed several ____.
We went to an open ____ to avoid more falling pieces.
How could ____ this have happened in a few minutes?
____ I had done many earthquake drills in school,
I had ____ thought I’d experience a real earthquake.
I ____ get scared when I remember that night.
I can’t forget the panic I felt when the furniture was shaking and things were falling to the ____.
____ that night, I began to take earthquake drills seriously.
I realized that I should be prepared for the next earthquake, which can occur at any ____.