Where were you when the earthquake struck?

Last Oct. 15, Bohol and Cebu experienced the deadliest earthquake in the Philippines in 23 years. It had a magnitude of 7.2.  As a result hundreds of lives were lost, thousands injured, and more than 55,000 structures were damaged or destroyed.

The earthquake struck as the country was observing the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha. Luckily, because of the public holiday had closed schools, some businesses and offices, which helped reduce the number of casualties.   

 It was about 8 a.m. when the Boholanos and Cebuanos felt the first quivering of the earthquake. The temblor came lightly with a gentle vibration of the house, but a very few seconds of this and it began to come in sharp jolts, which grew more violent. Frantic with fear, people rushed from the houses and into their gardens and open spaces. It was accompanied by a low rumbling noise unlike anything Cebuanos had heard before and its duration was about 36 seconds, though frankly it felt like an eternity. Lighter aftershocks, as of this writing 2,700 recorded, 74 of which were felt, continued at intervals throughout the following days.

A fortnight has passed since the horrifying experience, which has tested our faith and sanity. Today, people are slowly rebuilding their lives. I have come to understand and accept that such a traumatic experience has a stressful impact sufficient to overwhelm our usual coping strategies.

It is in moments like these when I remember my mom’s favorite Spanish idiom, “No hay mal que por bien no venga” (every cloud has a silver lining).

A few friends share their thoughts on the tragic experience.

Bingen Mendezona, security executive

The residents of Cebu are lucky as we didn’t get to experience a greater emergency, because our emergency response stance is quite poor and  incapable of a quick and coordinated response.  As a gauge of its effectiveness, it took several hours to get any situational report from any source.  The city could not give any advice or status reports due to the poor or lack of Mass Notification System (MNS) capability or preparation. There is no one integrated, centralized point of contact.  This is the major missing link, the understanding and ability to put together a standing, readily identifiable point of contact for emergency services. We don’t want to keep talking and practicing crisis management, we want to practice incident response and management or in the worst case scenario how to  handle an emergency, but avoid a Crisis. Once you’re in a crisis, it simply means you mishandled the first minutes of an incident or an emergency. 

We also need to start considering the effects of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorders).  The anxiety it must have caused to people who had to go to work in office buildings and the feeling of not being able to get away from it, the feeling of not knowing your faith. 

Freddie Alquiros, travel consultant

I was in Cebu visiting relatives and friends when the earthquake happened. I was in my hotel room getting ready for the day. In situations like these, I learned that the thing to do is to simply stay put, take cover by getting under a sturdy furniture and hold on tight until the shaking stops.

Melanie Ng, civic leader

What happened was devastating, houses were lost and lives were threatened. But the harrowing experience has also brought us closer together as a people. I am tremendously overwhelmed by the compassion, generosity and resiliency of Cebuanos and Boholanos. Everyone has been affected by this calamity and everyone has stepped forward to do everything we can in our own way to help rebuild Bohol and Cebu!

Joy Onozawa Martinez, architect and certified green design professional

The earthquake   woke us up to many realizations about our own mortality.   This made me vow all the more to live life with full meaning, as I realize that indeed our life is a gift from God. As an environmentalist and architect, the earthquake validated and strengthened our commitment to integrate ecological connections in our designs. Earthquakes are a natural occurrence and the only way to fight this would be through natural means. The earthquake comes with a new inspiration to do much much better so that we can produce truly livable  homes and buildings.

Celeste See, businesswoman

When you get jolted out of bed on a holiday morning by a 7.2 intensity earthquake, the first thing on your mind would be to find a way to live. We scurried down from the house and had nothing with us but our clothes. We thank God that we are very much alive, and nothing major happened to us. However, that got me thinking. Events such as these make us realize what’s important. Our priorities, which have gone haywire, suddenly fall in order and take their proper place. The cares of this world fade away, then the non-negotiables of life surface — our relationship with God, our life as a whole and the people who mean so much to us. It is through these high impact incidents that we realize that at the end of the day, at the end of our lives, the things that really matter most are those which cannot be measured nor bought by anything in this world.

Alexis Yap, restaurateur

 The recent earthquake has made me realize how much I truly value my loved ones and my own life. I got out of the house and took nothing with me, which made me realize that material things are not as important  as I thought they would be. I have learned the value of living each day like it was my last. And I am touched and reassured that the human race is not hopeless, seeing the unconditional generosity of the many people who are helping the victims of this terrible calamity.