False alarm

Yesterday’s earthquake and the subsequent panic brought about by the spread of false information about a tsunami had many Cebuanos on the edge.

We were at home when the quake struck and was on the road when people started running towards the uptown area due to reports of the water level rising. Several hoax text messages were also sent out and some people who received them just forwarded them without verifying.

There were many lessons to learn from that experience. One lesson is that our government is ill-equipped to handle calamities that ate man-made due to the disinformation.

Many blame media for the panic, but we were monitoring the AM stations regularly changing frequencies and none of those were monitored had reported any tsunami.

The people who we talked to at Ramos were relieved to know that it was a hoax, but some of them ran from as far as the downtown area and were catching their breaths.

Motorists should learn to listen to the AM stations in times of calamity like earthquakes, typhoons, fires, and others. It is always best to be informed about what is happening so we could also avoid the areas where there is traffic congestion.

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A reader complained about the traffic situation in front of the North Bus Terminal where there is an ongoing road construction.

The reader said that he has not seen a traffic enforcer in the area, who is trying to help make sure that there would be a smooth flow of vehicles.

He said that he once saw a traffic enforcer, but he was stationed far from where there was traffic congestion and was instead busy issuing citation tickets.

The reader asked if it is proof that there is truth to reports that some of these people receive commission if they reach their quota in the issuance of citation tickets.

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Many readers continue to ask what would happen next on the short stretch of Don Gil Garcia, just outside Capitol.

The road has been reopened, but it seems that the report that the area would be cleared of illegal settlers is something that is not happening.

One reader asked, “is that road widening or simply sidewalk widening?”

Well, we told her that it could be a case of just concreting of the parking areas of the residents.

We hope to hear from our officials soon.

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