The 6.7 Earthquake, the Tsunami scare and the Reality

Photo credits: REUTERS/Erik De Castro

the  6.7  EARTHQUAKE

Last Monday, Februay 6th, Cebu was hit by a 6.7 earthquake with its epicenter at 6.9 magnitude in Negros Island. I was already at the office (Cebu City) when it happened at around 11:30am to 12:00 noon. I have had past earthquake experiences but last Monday was the strongest so far for me, it lasted about 30 seconds and the first 3 seconds were a little slow but after that I can really feel the building was shaking and I thought it would collapse, so I started to get worried. My colleagues were running toward the emergency exit for fear of the aftershock. So, we immediately went outside the building and walk fast towards an open area. We waited for more than 2 hours for the building to be cleared for occupancy and so we went back in and did our work just like normal days.

the  TSUNAMI  SCARE

After about an hour since we got back to the office, our admin staff told us there’s another emergency, this time it’s tsunami – so we headed to the window and saw a mass of people, they were running from downtown area towards our area in uptown Cebu, so we then shut down our computers and answer the unknown reality.

Picture taken from: http://www.inquisitr.com -click the image to read the full story

When we were outside, carried away by the people’s reactions, crying, running, panicking, we initially went with their direction. Not knowing exactly why they’re running, I asked around and I found out they were running because the water had allegedly started to submerge Colon in downtown Cebu. As I didn’t know which direction to take, I invited my colleagues to go to our assembly area (Fuente Osmena Circle) and so we did, we stay put until the police from the roving patrol car announced to not panic because there was no tsunami. As I was more comfortable after that, I invited my friend to have some refreshments before walking our way to Ayala Center for a ride back home.

That was my February 6th, something I can never forget! What a day!

and  the  REALITY

I realized that:

• Life is just temporary
• That acts of God could happen at a split second
• That we have to value all the blessings we have
• That life is too short to be serious
• That we have to savor each moment
• That we have to trust in our gut and stay calm at all times

God bless us all!

Related Articles:

• http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/141701/quake-preparedness
• Negros Images
• Cebu Tsunami scare video 
• http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/350936/dpwh-starts-repairing-roads-bridges-in-negros-oriental-despite-aftershocks
• http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/142971/rescuers-led-by-the-nose-to-find-quake-survivors-in-negros
• http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57372512/death-toll-in-philippines-earthquake-rises-to-22/
• http://cebudailynews.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/phivolcs-we-didnt-explain-tsunami-alert/
• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/usa/world/2012-02/07/content_14549941.htm
• http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0207/Negros-earthquake-Urgent-rescue-efforts-as-death-toll-rises-video
• http://www.inquisitr.com/190831/philippines-earthquake-negros-oriental-2012/