On shaky ground!

What I have always feared for the past three or four years has happened. A magnitude 6.9 earthquake has struck the islands of Negros Oriental and Cebu on Monday. Epicenter of the quake places it between the two islands. For the past three or so years, I have noticed that earthquakes around the region, strong ones at that, have struck one after another. I also noticed that the country seemed to be spared from the earth’s shifting its mass. So as our Asian neighbors reeled from the temperamental earth, we seemed to enjoy it selective calm. That was until noon of Monday. The latest count is 43 dead in Negros Oriental. Some of the victims were children in school who were crushed by collapsing walls. My God.

I can just imagine the widespread panic caused by such an earthquake. The earthquake in Japan that caused the devastating tsunamis last year was a 7.1 shaker. Although a 6.9 earthquake is exponentially weaker, it is enough to rattle one’s nerves and test one’s faith as well. Nothing is more disconcerting than having the ground beneath you shake and throw you off balance. Stability is built into the human body, so anything that causes otherwise will get you attention, and bring out your fear. With Negros and Cebu being islands, the threat of tsunamis is always real during an earthquake. After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that sent tsunamis all over the India-Indonesia-Thailand coastlines killing hundreds of thousands, people have learned to fear the killer waves. Any shaking of the ground near a body of salt water is cause for alarm.

I am hoping that the body count does not rise any further. But so far we have only heard from Negros Oriental. I am hoping that Cebu has been spared from death and damage. Aside from the loss of human life in Negros Oriental, damage to infrastructure is bound to run in the millions of pesos. Something no region needs right now. But what really bothered me are the reports of looting in and around the areas hit by the calamity. It is times like these that the worst is brought out in many. Those who have no respect for the law nor the rights of others. It is just right that those caught be punished right where they stand. It is during these times that the law must be harsh.

Aside from noticing that the country has been mostly spared by earthquakes the past years, Metro Manila in particular has enjoyed a strong tremor-free period for some time now. The last strong quake to hit the metro was in 1990. That was a strong 7.8, where more than one thousand six hundred people perished! That was also twenty-two years ago. What am I getting at? I just dread the possibility that energy may be building up in the same fault, and one day, it may just give, causing a massive quake that will devastate the metro. Seems the earth is settling down all over the country, except for Metro Manila. We may literally be sittingon a time bomb.

I sure hope I’m not right.