Good morning! Today my lovely VA Clarisse will talk about the big earthquake that just happened in her country, the Philippines. This is her first post, please join me to welcome her!
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Tuesday October 15 at 8:12 in the morning as I was working in front of my laptop, I felt my chair slowly moving and at first I thought I may have gotten dizzy, but when I looked at the headset’s wire it was moving too!
And then I yelled to my younger sister that it is an earthquake, she was studying at that time and my daughter was lying on our couch. I was so panicked that I could hardly move and didn’t even gather the courage to go to my daughter, I just remained petrified watching our things that kept moving stronger and stronger.
My brave younger sister hugged my daughter that was crying at that time. When some of our things started falling, I stood and I tried to hold my mother’s electric sewing machine because the quake kept growing stronger! I heard our doors slamming and I saw our chandeliers swaying, my heart was bouncing as we had never experienced such a strong earthquake before!
After four minutes I think the earthquake stopped, I was simply thankful that we were safe and without major damages. I hurriedly searched the internet to locate the epicenter of the quake. And here is a picture below that shows Bohol and Cebu City as the most affected areas.
It’s heartbreaking to see some of the historic places and especially some old churches collapsed due to the strong tremor.
Thankfully, the kids were out of school during the tragedy, because of the regular holiday in our country in observance of Eidul Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice for the Muslims.
One of the most important historic churches is the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño in Cebu City, it was founded in 1565. That is where the oldest Señior Sto. Niño can be found and where the Sinulog feast is celebrated every January, when lots of tourists and pilgrims come to visit. As you can see on the picture below, the facade of the church was totally damaged as well as the bell tower.
In the updated list there are ten historical churches that were damaged because of the 7.2-magnitude quake. But the most damaged church was the Church of San Pedro Apostol in Loboc, Bohol that sadly totally collapsed.
Even the top tourist destination in our country widely known as Chocolate Hills in Bohol was affected by the strong quake. As you can see the Chocolate Hills was malformed because of the intensity.
Credit
During the earthquake the roads cracked and the houses collapsed. Hospitals, schools, public markets, buildings and establishments were damaged too. It was reported that there were 107 people killed in the tragedy that happened on Tuesday and 276 people were injured in the tremors, 166 of whom were from Bohol, 106 from Cebu, 3 from Siquijor and 1 from Negros Oriental.
They also stated that the earthquake that happened on Tuesday was stronger than the Haiti earthquake of 2010 that killed an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) compared the 7.2-magnitude earthquake to 32 Hiroshima Atomic Bombs, it has hundreds of aftershocks that can last for a week.
I hope my country will soon recover this very sad tragedy and face a new tomorrow.
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Editor’s note: As I have been traveling, I have been staying away from the news and only learned about the earthquake when Clarisse mentioned it. I was grateful nothing happened to her and her family but really sad to see all the deaths and destruction. We have our fair share of earthquakes in Guatemala, I have felt some temblors before but nothing of that magnitude. Four minutes must seem like an eternity.
Wow – that sounds like a pretty terrifying experience. I’m glad that you are all okay. Four minutes is SUCH a long time to endure something like that!
Thanks, yes we are okay and that was our first time to experienced an intensity V earthquake.
How scary and sad. I hope there is enough aid and recovery.
The rescues are still going on and sadly the death counts still rise.
sorry to hear of this. In So. Cal it just a matter of time for sure. I hope for the best recovery possible for all there.
Thanks!
I’ve only ever felt one earthquake in my life and it happened while I was half a sleep and I thought I felt my bed slowing moving and when I got up later on it was all over the news.
One of my friend texts me that she was sleeping during the time the earthquake was happening but she was awakened by the strong shaking of her bed.
Hi Clarisse, I’m from the Philippines too, based here in Manila. I’m glad that you’re family is okay. It really was a strong earthquake and it’s pretty saddening to see our historic landmarks come down to the ground just like that. I’ve been to Cebu and Bohol before and it really was a great place to be. Hope they could recover soon! Keep safe.
Thank you Mark it’s glad to know that you’re from the Philippines too, I’m here in Mindanao area but we experienced an Intensity V and actually while typing this now I felt a strong aftershock.
Clarisse, I had heard about this and am so sorry to hear about the deaths and destruction of your country. I think it was very powerful for you to show the pictures to go along with your account and appreciate your honest storytelling of how it happened. So often we think we will know “exactly what to do” or judge people in their handling of a situation (I am guilty of this!), but the truth is we don’t know what we’ll do until it happens. We can prepare and that is all. Thank you so much for sharing, and I’m glad you are safe.
Thanks that you appreciated my post, yes you’re right being prepared is the right way to handle this kind of situation.
When I heard this news, I was really shocked. The magnitude and destruction of earthquake are huge both for Cebu and Bohol Islands. Is Bohol island along the so called the “Philippines Fault Line”?
Yes the tragedy was very shocking, until now they’re still lots of missing people especially in Bohol. And I’m not sure if Bohol located along the Philippines Fault Line, I just read in the news that one theory that caused the earthquake was a “deep crustal event”.
Oh dear, Clarisse!! SO thankful you and your family are okay! I too just heard about this, due to your post, as I don’t get time to watch much in the way of news. I cannot imagine how terrifying this whole ordeal must be for you and your country. Our thoughts and prayers are with you for continued emotional and physical healing.
Thank you so much Laurie that was an unforgettable experienced.
So glad that you and your family are OK, but sad to hear about the deaths and the damage. So sad to see those churches destroyed. Bf’s family lives in Manila, and thankfully they are all fine.
Thanks Kari! It’s so sad that mostly the churches had the huge damaged. Your BF is a Filipino too?