7:50 A.M. of October 15, 2013, Pok! Ouch! Something
just hit me, the walls were shaking, shaking very hard and long. I can hear something breaking, and falling, I
can’t move .In front the antique figure of St. Joseph was falling, and that was
heavy, and everything else where spontaneous. Earthquake!!!
I jumped off my bed, and kept
telling myself, “don’t panic- don’t panic “.
I remembered my emergency
training, from my previous job about “triangle of life”. It is a controversial theory about how to
survive a major earthquake. You have to stay in a sturdy corner, near a wall, a
door, or beside a table, sit down and wait until the shaking stops. With courage that I will survive, I stood up from
my bed, and hid near the door and prayed.
I grabbed my shorts (and speaking
of, I was in my undies. I find it very comfortable to sleep when you are barely
naked. But unexpected calamities like this I wasn’t ready) and speed running
going downstairs. Thank God I am still
alive.
This didn’t just happen once, but
definitely a major life experience of which intensity 7.2, strike Cebu and
Bohol. All I could have thought about
that day is my Mama, Papa, my family who are all in Bohol, Lola Lucing who
stayed downstairs with the company of some house helps, my friends, and loved ones,
Chesca and Ysa.
My mind kept questioning, could
this be my last day? I don’t want to die ugly, with debris all over me, or my
body dragged lifelessly. This kind of
thoughts is not something you can uplift yourself but by denying death. I am
not ready, I still wanted to live and enjoy life. Worst, there was no electricity,
and phone networks are out of reach and my phone were off with not enough
battery to call. It was, hot, restless and hopeless.
As we speak we still are
experiencing aftershocks. And people are traumatized of this happening. Some
trying to pick up pieces left for them, and some...to God is with them.
This is how my place looked like after the tremor:
And as I was looking at the pictures
posted in the internet, especially in Bohol, my heart bleeds with misery. Century
old churches were gone, the beautiful Chocolate Hills were destroyed, and the
rest of it, damaged. God must have a message for us ,to realize why this
unfortunate event happened.It is about time to keep our minds open, repent and do penance to make this world a better place.
Pictures in Cebu - Bohol (courtesy of Google Images)
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