What to do in case of another earthquake

Thanks to a friend’s post in Facebook, I found out about the earthquake in Cebu before news organizations reported about it. And thanks to mobile phones, I found out that my parents were okay just minutes after I read about the earthquake. With a few clicks, I learned that the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) estimated the magnitude at 6.9 and that the epicenter was located between Negros and Cebu. I also saw that tsunami alerts were up for coastal areas and these warnings were flashed as I watched TV.

Technology is useful and helpful for these things but there is no invention yet that can predict earthquakes. After the destructive earthquakes in Haiti, New Zealand and Japan, there were several news features about what to do in case of an earthquake. Questionable information about the best way to survive was also forwarded in emails (the one that said you should stay beside, and not under, a big piece of furniture). Eventually, news of earthquakes and related stories got buried by more exciting and/or controversial events. I do not know how many among us actually remember the proper thing to do in case an earthquake strikes.

While waiting for news reports of the earthquake, a government official was quoted as saying that students are given an earthquake drill every quarter. I have never participated in an earthquake drill because we did not have any in my elementary school or high school in the 1980’s and 1990’s. I asked my son who is in high school if it was true that they regularly had earthquake drills in school. They did.

“So, what are you supposed to do in case of an earthquake?” I quizzed him.

“Stay under a table,” he answered.

“What if there is no table?” I asked.

“ Stay near the wall where the post is,” he replied.

He narrated that several years ago, an earthquake struck while he was in elementary school. It was during recess.

“What did you do?” I asked him. I expected him to repeat what he just told me about what they were taught to do during an earthquake.

“We were outside. We stayed there. The people inside the buildings ran out,” he answered. I remembered what I did when I was in high school when an earthquake struck: I stayed on my seat. My classmates and I must have looked at each other and the cracks on the walls of our classroom.

An Australian friend said that kids in Australia are given “life lessons” or practical classes that teach them how to survive disasters like fires and floods. She was shocked that an earthquake-prone country like ours did not have a similar program. When she found out that her Filipino household staff had never participated in an earthquake drill, she and her husband took it upon themselves to design a module to teach them earthquake-preparedness. Apart from teaching them what to do in case of an earthquake, she taught them to keep enough water and food to last a week for each member of the household.These supplies are checked monthly and replaced if expired.

I continue to pray that damage from the earthquake is minimal. At the same time, I also hope that we have been literally jolted enough to bother finding out what the right thing to do is during the next one.

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