Fragile and helpless

Mother Nature has just shown how fragile and helpless we all are. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit Surigao City last Friday, causing the deaths of six persons, injuring more than a hundred and causing substantial damage to infrastructure. The airport had to be shut down because of damage to the runway, further complicating the quick delivery of aid. The already short supply of water in the coastal city has worsened, with water having to come from nearby towns. Power is still being restored, with many areas still in the dark. It goes without saying that many residents need food and water. Surigao is now in a state of calamity. A price freeze for basic commodities is now in effect. Hopefully, the situation will not be taken advantage of by unscrupulous traders. The government must be harsh on such opportunistic persons.

According to Phivolcs, the reason for the substantial damage to infrastructure is the soft consistency of the soil in Surigao. Liquefaction after an earthquake is always a possibility in places near bodies of water, and it is almost always destructive. Foundations become useless, thereby resulting in extensive damage. It’s been more than a hundred years since the Surigao faultline moved. Friday’s earthquake sent a chilling reminder that it is still active.

Once again, we have been shown just how prone our cities are to strong tremors. Most buildings are neither “earthquake resistant”, nor designed with strong earthquakes in mind. For a country literally lying on numerous faultlines, building earthquake sturdy buildings and houses seems more a luxury than a necessity. Just how many buildings in the country have been built to the similar standards of those in Japan or San Francisco?

Surigao continues to experience many aftershocks as the faultline is still settling into its new position. Disaster response is well on its way, having learned from the Bohol earthquake of 2013. That, by the way, was a 7.2-magnitude tremor. Bohol is still rebuilding some of the damage caused by that earthquake. Let us hope that basic services and the airport are restored in Surigao as soon as possible. Let us also hope that no other fault lines across the country move as well. People have always talked about the “big one” in Metro Manila, with earthquake drills being conducted on a regular basis. Let’s pray that day never comes. There really is nothing more disconcerting, and terrifying than having the ground shake under you.

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