“Unsa ron?”
“Ngano ni?”
“What shall we do?”
Those are the phrases I uttered (as far as I could remember)
in the office when the earthquake shaken Visayas with a magnitude of 7.2 where the epicenter is located in Bohol, Philippines.
After uttering those phrases, I stood up grabbing my phone
with earphones attached. After a couple of steps, I realized that I need to
bring some stuff. I stepped back and grabbed my bag and ran. I
admit that I really panicked. I could still recall the previous and similar incident, last
February 6, 2012 which devastated my home province of Negros Oriental. I know
it was not a good move - running. As we learned, we only need to walk fast and
with care. Yeah, I ran but with care (at a minimum). When I reached the main
door of our office, I saw someone pointing at the crack on the ceiling. Who
would not panic more? I bumped the glass door with my right shoulder. I did not
feel any pain, at all – adrenaline rush. I heard the door swinging when I passed
through it. I was very worried already – for myself, my sister who was in the
apartment at that time, my parents in the province. I was shaking when I got
out of the building. My hands were sweating. I tried to contact my loved ones –
my sister and parents but got disconnected. Telecommunication networks were down.
I was worried more especially for my sister because she was alone in our room.
I knew that I would not settle unless I could verify the situation of my
family.
We were trying to ease our emotions by talking about funny
stuff we made or seen as we moved out of the building – me bumping the glass
door, others not bringing anything, running out in slippers, leaving their cellphones, wallets and
alike.
After few call attempts, I was able to talk to my mother.
Thank God, they were fine! She urged me to check my sister and possibly go home
immediately. I could not go home yet because I knew that it was traffic. I
wanted to ensure that everything is settled, at least, before I leave the area.
With few call attempts again, I was able to talk to my sister. She was fine and
safe but scared. I could hear through her voice that she was very worried. She
wanted me to go home immediately. I knew that she was fine, but she needed my
protection as the big sister. I assured her that I would be home the soonest
however I needed to wait for the office announcement. We communicated through
text messages and kept on assuring her that I would be home soon. Since it was
almost lunch time, I urged her to go upstairs and get something to eat. By the
way, we are staying in the third floor of the 3-storey apartment. I guess, that
will explain my sister’s worries.
I reached home around 1PM. Aftershocks were felt. We heard our
door banging. My sister kept it that way though as an indication of aftershocks
and the water in the gallon that moved when the building moved. I could feel my
tummy crunched every time the building moved. As it stopped, I ate lunch. Yes,
it was a very late lunch. I then slept but awaken by my sister’s noise when the
building moved again. I asked her not to do that noise again as it would scare
me too. We prepared the stuff we may need in case we would move out of the room
and the building - only the important things plus food and water. We were kind
of paranoid already when aftershocks occurred. We left our room around 9PM to
stay downstairs. We stayed in the receiving area and agreed to stay there for
the entire night. The care taker offered us the bamboo sofa for us to sleep on,
the least. However, he also offered the other room which is occupied by the
owner’s niece who was not there that time. We refused at first but he insisted
because it was not good to let us stay outside especially that we were women.
We agreed with him and took the offer. In short, we stayed in that room for the
entire night but half asleep. We were trying to be alert every time aftershocks
occurred. We moved out the room around 4AM this morning. We stayed in our room
upstairs and again, we kept on monitoring the occurrence of aftershocks through
the banging of the door and movement of water in the gallon. Paranoid but
reasonable, I believe.
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| Siszy, trying to smile and our bags with our important belongings. |
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| The bamboo sofa |
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| Flashlight attached to my ID sling to carry with ease. |
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| Gallon of water - aftershocks indicator |
No food to eat. No more canned goods, noodles and alike. We
needed to get some so we went out for grocery. If only we had food, I should
have stayed home. I was not feeling well because I did not have enough sleep
last night. But that was the only choice we had – to buy food. While we were
out, I could feel that I was dizzy. We hurried so we would be home before lunch
time. My sister was clinging to me the entire time we were in the grocery
store. I know that she was still afraid and very tired too. As we travelled
back to our apartment, we saw groups of people outside the building. I could
say that they were employees staying in tall buildings. Rest assured that aftershocks
occurred again. We did not notice it, maybe because we were moving.
We ate our
lunch when we reached home. I slept after that and woke up around 5PM, which
means, I slept for about 4 hours. I was very tired. My sister said that she
heard the door was banging again while we were sleeping. She looked at me but I
only moved then stayed back. So she just went back to sleep. She was tired of it
already. Her energy was drained, just like mine.
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| Grocery items |
"A guide to the blue journey - a relaxing, peaceful, blissful, healthy and honorable life." -TBC
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