In the room next door, Waikouaiti's Mike Scurr had similar thoughts as he clung to a door frame in his fourth-floor room, his body hurled from side to side.
Unable to stand and repeatedly smashed against the wall, Mr McSkimming prepared himself for the worst as the earthquake-proofed hotel in the Chilean capital tossed from side to side.
"The beds were wandering around the floor.
"I thought it was all over," Mr McSkimming said.
The swaying subsided just as the pair, in Chile for a four-day business trip to look at machinery for mining company Oceana Gold, were sure the building was about to collapse.
Distressed, thankful to be alive, but worried that worse was to come, they made their way with dozens of other panicked hotel guests to a nearby outdoor car park, where they sat for six hours, waiting for the aftershocks to gradually diminish in intensity.
The pair spoke yesterday from a colleague's house in La Serena, about six hours' drive north of Santiago, where they were waiting for flights to resume from the badly damaged Santiago airport.
The pair had been staying at a hotel next to Santiago Airport when the earthquake, which measured 8.8 on the Richter scale, struck about 4am.
The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade yesterday afternoon confirmed 230 New Zealanders were safe, while another 40 remained unaccounted for after Saturday's earthquake, which so far had left more than 700 dead.
Mr Scurr said the quake cut the hotel's water and power supplies.
They had been transferred to another hotel, but their rooms were on the 11th floor, and after one particularly bad after-shock yesterday, they decided to get out of the city.
As they drove north they saw on-ramps, off-ramps and motorway overbridges buckled and damaged.
Large steel plates allowed traffic to cross some of them.
Some buildings were completely flattened while others were cracked and leaning.
Mr Scurr said he had never had such a shock, and was looking forward to getting back to New Zealand.
Mr McSkimming, formerly of Clyde and Dunedin, now lives in Darfield.
He said both of them were still getting over the shock.
"It was a minute and 30 seconds of my life I will never forget."
Meanwhile, two University of Otago students on exchange to the Pontíficia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago were safe and unharmed, said the university's pro-vice chancellor (international) Professor Sarah Todd.
University staff made contact with the students yesterday.
They had been outside Santiago when the quake struck, she said.
There were about 12 Chilean students studying at the University of Otago and all had been contacted by the university, but none had yet accepted an offer of assistance or support if required.
Sophia Plate, a former teacher at St Hildas Collegiate School, told friends via email she had had to cling to her hospital bed during the shaking, but was otherwise unharmed.
A teacher in the Chilean mountains, she was in hospital in Santiago at the time of the quake.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said family and friends who had concerns about New Zealanders in the affected area should try to make contact with them in the first instance.
"If they cannot make contact with relatives and have concerns, they should call MFAT on 0800 432-111, or +64 4 439-8401 if calling from overseas.
"To allow the ministry to focus on contacting those in the affected area, we ask that people who have reported concerns for New Zealanders, and have since heard they are safe, to tell us," he said.
