It was the biggest quake to hit Cebu and Bohol!

For the people living in the Visayas, especially in Cebu and Bohol, Oct. 15, 2013 will always be remembered as the day the “Big One” hit us. Indeed on Tuesday morning at 8:12a.m., just as I got out of bed and finished my morning prayers, then the unexpected happened… and to think it happened during the Muslim Holiday of Sacrifice and it was a big and long one!

I was in the kitchen to get some breakfast when my son Capt. JV who was watching TV in the living room shouted... “Earthquake!” Rather than go out of the house… I ran into the balcony where I had a great view of Cebu City and I was literally holding on to the swaying balcony railings and watching the tall buildings sway. I looked down on my car and it too was swaying wildly. It was indeed the big and a long one, which I believe lasted more than a minute! The feeling was quite eerie… just holding on to the railing and hoping that you can finish the ride!

I have lived in Cebu in all my years and have felt the various earthquakes that hit us every now and then. But the biggest we ever felt was no larger than a 4 or 5 intensity quake. Until we got hit by the 6.9 in the Richter scale magnitude Negros Oriental earthquake that struck on Feb. 6, 2012, just a year and a half ago. It was the first time that Cebuanos tasted a huge earthquake… where the major damage was more on our ruffled feathers.

Ignorant Cebuano masses who obviously saw through Satellite TV the earlier dramatic Indonesian and Japanese earthquake and tsunami, suddenly searched for higher ground, even in the Lahug area, which is already on high ground. Thousands walked up to the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel fearing that the tsunami would strike Cebu. Indeed, it was an embarrassing scene and proof that Cebuanos did not have any training for earthquake preparedness.

Apparently, no one from the National, Regional or Local Risk Reduction Management offices did something after the Negros earthquake and so last Tuesday when the 7.2 in the Richter scale earthquake hit Cebu… no one was prepared for the big one to strike us.

Among the natural disasters of Mother Earth, earthquakes affect everyone. Unlike a typhoon or even a super typhoon, if you live in a sturdy house, typhoons do not scare you. When floods happen, it affects only those people living in the low areas, but those living on high ground are safe. But an earthquake affects everyone rich or poor and if your building isn’t built strong enough it might collapse!

Ten minutes after the big quake, we felt the first of hundreds of aftershocks that jolted us from that morning all to the wee hours of dawn the following day. It was these aftershocks that kept thousands of Cebuanos from staying indoors and many stayed outside their homes. As of my e-mailing this article to The STAR, I still felt a few aftershocks in my house.

Twenty minutes after the initial earthquake, I immediately dressed up and hopped on my motorcycle and proceeded to check our buildings in Midtown Cebu and in Downtown Colonnade Mall. While it was a holiday, my cousins also went with me to check the structural integrity of our buildings and thank God… while there were many cracks, they were superficial and the biggest damage was a broken water tank and busted pipes.

After my inspection I rode my bike to the nearby Basilica Minore del Santo Niño and what I saw shocked me nearly to tears as I saw the belfry of the Sto. Niño Church broken and collapsed. This is the oldest church in our country and it had survived earthquakes and wars… but this earthquake really took its toll on the Sto. Niño Church, the symbol of the Cebuano’s devotion to the Holy Child Jesus.

Later we learned from our Facebook friends that the historic and famous churches of Bohol, the Loboc Church, Baclayon Church, Loon Church and the Dauis churches were heavily damaged by the quake. These churches in Bohol are part of their cultural and heritage tour. With the CNN coverage of the earthquake… all Filipinos by now have seen the devastation wrought by the earthquake where the epicenter was in between the town of Carmen and Catigbian… where my mother’s family have the Segura Farms.

After the quake… I got numerous texts messages and queries from my Facebook friends asking… “Why did God allow his centuries old church to be destroyed in the quake?” Of course there are no easy answers to such questions. But since most of the modern day churches survived the earthquake… and the destruction was focused on the centuries old churches, perhaps the Lord himself is sending us a message to rebuild our old churches. By this I mean we follow the footsteps of Pope Francis who wants to rebuild the Catholic Church with Justice and Compassion and shun material riches and attune the church to the needs of the poor.

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