Cebuanos in panic. Ouch.

The widespread “tsunami panic” that gripped Cebu in the aftermath of last Monday’s 6.9 magnitude earthquake has caused more damage to our image than the actual material losses actually suffered.

Video footages and newspaper photographs showed to the entire world images of Cebuanos in varying stages of terror, all resulting from factors that could have been avoided. That we can now laugh at ourselves in retrospect does not in any way pay for the damage already done.

Three of the most prominent factors that led to the panic may be identified as: 1) a totally ridiculous government warning policy; 2) wholesale ignorance; and 3) irresponsible use of modern communications equipment.

The computer age has spawned the saying “garbage in, garbage out.” Simply put, a stupid government policy can only produce stupid results. So when President Aquino introduced his highly impossible “zero casualty” policy, the government can do no less than respond in kind.

Mindful that yet another Aquino policy called “daang matuwid” or the straight and narrow path has left them with no other choice but to strictly comply with the “zero casualty” order, it became very clear to government functionaries what the only option was when the quake struck.

And that option was to declare a tsunami alert, no matter how wild that may seem in light of the actual circumstances. There was nothing to be done about earthquake losses. But collateral damage from a tsunami can be avoided, in strict compliance with the “zero casualty” directive.

Giving consideration only to this policy, and the recorded magnitude of the earthquake, the Phivolcs promptly issued “Tsunami Alert Level 2.” What that particular warning meant, Phivolcs never made any attempt to publicly clarify.

Basta, that was it na lang — all over the television stations the warning was flashed: “Tsunami Alert Level 2.” What the Phivolcs never took time to consider, eager as it was to comply with the “zero casualty” order, was the geographical area covered by its warning.

The Visayas is made up of closely-knit islands separated only by small and narrow bodies of water. There is no way these waters can generate a tsunami. Fairly large waves maybe, but not the kind that should drive Cebuanos by the thousands to the hills.

When Phivolcs issued the order, all that it was thinking, aside from the “zero casualty” policy, was the inherent strength of the earthquake. To be sure, earthquakes far weaker than the 6.9 that struck Monday have the capability to generate tsunamis.

 Tsunamis need large bodies of water to form. The Tañon Strait between Negros and Cebu, where the earthquake’s epicenter last Monday was, is too small and narrow to generate a tsunami. Phivolcs should have considered that before issuing the tsunami warning.

Not that it should just have folded its arms. No. It still needed to issue a warning because the possibility of big waves was present. But it should have refrained from using the word “tsunami” because that entailed an entirely different picture altogether.

Even to this day, the March 2011 earthquake and ensuing tsunami in Japan continue to haunt us. So when a strong 6.9 magnitude earthquake strikes and the government issues a tsunami warning without explaining, naturally people who do not know any better will panic.

The media, particularly radio and television, are also partly to blame for not bothering to explain, unless they also were as clueless as the rest. The least they could have done was ask for clarifications from Phivolcs. Airing the warning as it was aided in the ensuing panic.

The actual trigger was, of course, those irresponsible text messages that said a tsunami has just struck the SRP and that, varying on the text message, the water was already in Carbon, in Mambaling, in Labangon, etc. When one started running, pandemonium broke loose.

Nobody gave a thought, or maybe just did not know, that the Tañon Strait is too small and narrow to generate a tsunami. But granting it did, such a tsunami would have to go down south to round the tip of Santander then up north again toward Cebu City. That just cannot be.