The fire and the boom

The television newsbreak was shocking, as well as numerous news reports that flooded shortly after. An explosion that killed at least four people and injured about 40 others at the Glorietta 2 Mall in Makati City early yesterday afternoon was “probably caused by a bomb,” national police chief Avelino Razon told Agence France-Presse. Razon said, “From our assessment this is not what was initially reported as LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). This was a bomb. But beyond that we can’t say anything else yet because we are still investigating. What I can say is it was not LPG that caused this.”

A spokesman for Ayala Corp., which operates the mall, said the cause of the “significant” explosion was under investigation and any reports of the cause thus far were “purely speculation.”

“We are not in a position to tell you exactly what type of explosion occurred,” company spokesman Alfonso Reyes told ANC television yesterday. “We’ll keep the area evacuated until we know more.” He also assured the victims and their relatives of assistance from Ayala Corp.

If indeed the explosion was caused by a bomb, as Razon had surmised, that better signal mall security to beef up inspection. Security should be well-advised to avoid being lenient in inspecting guests and packages and to detect all potential bomb threats. Authorities must get to the root cause of the explosion. Luckily, there was immediate emergency assistance to the victims and to the mall itself.

That’s more than I can say for the biggest fire to have hit Dumaguete City this year. Reports and victims said that it took a long time for emergency units to respond to the blaze, such that it spread rapidly when it probably could’ve been controlled with timely assistance. Reports also claimed that a concerned resident rode on his motorcycle to report the incident to the fire department, which was only minutes away from the burning establishments. It was then a brigade of fire trucks zoomed in and eventually put out the blaze.

My classmates and I were there for a field trip in Dumaguete when the fire broke out. In fact, we were staying at a neighboring inn, and we were stirred awake around 4 am by the heat and by other inn guests who were concerned that the blaze was nearby and that our inn was fronting a gasoline station. Witnessing from our windows how the fire swept across the street in a matter of minutes, we decided we’d be safest out of the building. In calm panic (if there is such a thing), we packed our belongings and watched the blaze from the nearby park. And all we could was stand there. That’s how shock affects its victims – everything happens so quickly and yet, everything also seems to be in slow motion.  It was almost surreal watching how the fire had become so huge that it lit up the moonless night. We had also assumed that the fire department had already been informed but it turned out that, according to other news reports, that the local fire department had received no calls but it was signaled by the citizen who rode his motorcycle to report the fire. But by then, the fire had already spread rapidly.

No casualties were reported, since the burned buildings were mostly business establishments. That’s especially timely because neither my classmate nor I saw ambulances zoom to the fire site. To give the city the benefit of a doubt, perhaps there was one or a couple of ambulances later on, but they would’ve come too late if they had come after the fire trucks.

Both tragic incidents incurred in this same week. May they teach us to up the standards in safety, security and timely emergency assistance. In tragedy, everything happens so fast – each second could mean another life lost or saved. More importantly, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Business establishments should provide unwavering, tight security as well as safety-check procedures to ensure that tragedies do not strike in the first place.