Survivors of Monday’s earthquake have recalled the “terrifying” experience in interviews with CNN en Español. Gabriel Mónaco, who lives on the 25th floor of a building in Medellín, said he was in bed with his phone when everything started shaking. “It was like a scene from ‘The Exorcist’ the way the bed moved,” he said, referencing the 1973 horror film. “I woke up my wife and we ran to the bathroom,” Monaco added. “It only lasted about two and a half minutes, but it felt like a week… My wife was praying.” His building was built about a decade ago with anti-seismic systems, Monaco explained, adding: “I see that many old buildings that unfortunately do not have this type of system have collapsed.” Martha Sepúlveda, who lives in the Ciudad Salitre neighborhood in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, told CNN en Español that “everything was moving, I could barely open the door to my apartment.” “My mother is in a wheelchair, but thank God we live on the first floor and we were able to take her out,” he added. Carlos Restrepo, who lives in the same neighborhood, told CNN en Español that “I felt like everything was going to fall on us, it was terrifying.” “Luckily here in Bogotá it was only a big scare,” he said. “But we have relatives in Cali and we were very worried about them.”
