That fateful night on the 31st, past eight, I was happily watching an animé that I just got, Sword Art and in HD quality on widescreen TV, the reason I was happy. Little did I know that the contentment and glee I was feeling had a huge cost.
As I went on watching, the house suddenly shook. I was immediately terrified because the strength of the quake did not start weak - it began strong spot-on. I was actually about to wait for it to stop, but it wasn't, all the more it became stronger and stronger, so I decided to go out right away. Before I had the reflex to go outside of the house, I began yelling for everyone to, as well.
As we were on our way down our house's balcony, a lot of things was actually happening. The earthquake still wasn't stopping, I was thinking houses will start to crumble down and everyone was going to die. That's how irrationally pessimistic I was at that moment. My scare was intense like no other. What happened to Haiti was already the picture in my head. The excruciating pain inside was something I will never want to feel again.
When we reached the street, the quake still wasn't stopping and I was clearly seeing houses shaking because of the bright moonlight, network towers swaying, praying they won't actually drop because it will be a much worse scenario. Then it blacked out. The quake slowly weakened then it stopped. It lasted for about 30 seconds or more, not including the bit of shakes following.
What extremely alarmed me was, no other people went out from their houses. We were the only people out in the street. Waiting for an earthquake that strong to stop is kinda stupid, no offense. I'm pretty sure they couldn't have gone under their tables because going out of their homes was a lot safer, a lot easier, and given the accessibility, the first thing you do in case of an earthquake. Were they waiting for their houses to collapse and die? Jesus Christ, thank you for saving their poor souls. They were absent during the calamity dry run (there wasn't any, just kidding). They don't watch TV, I thought!
We went back inside to find a lot of figurines shattered all over the place and other glasswares broken. The chandelier in the living room was still swaying. When I saw the TV safe and sound, I was extremely thankful (after being thankful we were not dead yet, of course). Calls were made, talks, among other things.
Straightaway, I wondered where the epicenter was. When my dad called in, the temblor was apparently breaking news everywhere already and I found out it was Sulangan, the last barangay of our town. For once, a blessed barangay was on CNN. I suddenly thought, since the Sulangan church was being renovated to a new, bigger house of God, perhaps he was testing its ability to withstand a tremor.
The initial measure was 7.9, but later revised to 7.6. My guess was 7.5. I obviously underestimated that shit.
In the essence of common sense, we immediately thought of a tsunami. After the thought of Haiti, Japan came to my head next. The very thought made the hair on my whole body stand. The next big scare was a lot frightening. That already came from me, someone who lives in an elevated part of town, in a relatively higher house. If our village was reached by water, the whole town will practically already be underwater.
On the phone, my dad asked me to go and tell my brother and his family who were living in another house to stay at home for the night just in case a tsunami comes. Alas, a tsunami alert was raised.
As I was on my way down town, there were already people walking on the streets, vehicles rummaging, and whatnot. When we came back home, trucks, cars, motorbikes and people were already on their way to our village, which was the highest part in town. A significant part of the town was already within our compound, not to mention our relatives and family friends filling our house. Everyone was scared, though it didn't really show. As for me, I felt really nervous, restless, and silently panicking inside.
I could not help but respond to so many calls and texts that came, all asking about the earthquake, being safe, and the tsunami.
We waited, and waited, and waited.
Then finally, the level 3 tsunami alert was lifted after a couple of hours. Although a huge part in us was able to breathe, we were still alert but less startled. Nothing happened until the rest of the night. It was a miracle.
I was still able to sleep. Weird.
This was my status the morning after:
Last night was one of the most frightening nights of my life. After that 7.9 magnitude earthquake, a level 3 tsunami alert was raised. We were the nearest from the epicenter - just kilometers away. Everyone was expecting something would happen since news said with an earthquake that strong, a huge possibility of a tsunami occurrence would took place. But nothing happened. It was a miracle. Thank you everyone who called, who were concerned, who prayed. Most of all, thank God for keeping us safe. Good morning.
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