Earthquakes are somewhat a rarity in Cebu City, or so minuscule so hardly felt it. Or really, none at all. Every time a person asks, "Did you feel that?" An automatic response would be, if you did, "Hell yes." If not, "Earthquake?"
Assumptions on these kinds of things are all you could really do, especially if you haven't felt one (an earthquake) yourself. Like myself, I had not experience feeling an earthquake. People would just start running, and or just do nothing and ask that question: "Did you feel that?"
I had one such experience. Two family members and I were out watching a movie. I was very young at the time, and I had forgotten what movie it was. The only thing I do remember is there being an earthquake there. And the people inside the theater had to evacuate. Some people just left themselves without being told, but some people didn't even flinch. One of those people: me.
Earlier this morning while walking up to the corner, I saw this homeless guy looking through some trash. In his hand was a revolver, it was probably a pellet gun, considering he was a hobo, and who the fuck would leave a revolver in the trash? Just a Monday morning through my perspective which is totally real by the way.
At school, the old facilities were getting an upgrade. This was going on for a few weeks now, or months rather, I don't really know. If you're a Velezian student, and you had to use the PTOT classrooms, then you would be sure to relate, the noise during those drilling, sawing, hammering can drive any studious person on edge. If you're just there, physically present, then you'd just think those things are noisy, interrupting your conversations with your seatmate.
Being a Velezian student, you don't really hope to there when an earthquake hits, knowing all the shit that's happening in your environment. If the ground so much as shakes, you get out of there. No questions asked, if that was just some large person jumping, then say you had to go to the restroom, or say nothing at all.
On my way outside the school premises, the continuous clatter of a bell could be heard, and people had started making their way outside as well. My friends and I were unaware of the situation and just found the noise annoying. When we got nearer outside, the noise grew louder. We found out that the guard had been hitting the bell. We approached him and asked what was happening, people still going outside, running now. He informed us of the current situation and stopped ringing the bell altogether.
The college entrance was filled with people. A similar feeling of Sinulog, but not quite. People were too dressed in white, if it were Sinulog, white would've been overpowered with paint. The crowd was not panicking, some still didn't know why they were being evacuated. Unlike most of them, we had gone outside on our own.
 |
| Here are people panicking. (No, not really) |
I had gone to my mother's office. Her office was in a building at the third floor. When I got there, she asked me if I felt it, and I answered that I hadn't. We got into talking, about my brother who was at his school. Then it hit. The first aftershock I've ever felt in my life. It made me dizzy, as well as the other ones.
When I got to the gym which took a long time, people were still talking about it. I had heard somebody said that a motorcyclist drove along Colon St.(one of the busiest streets in Cebu) and exclaimed there was a tsunami. The people panicked and rushed to the inner city, away from any near shores. Chaos ensued, cars were left, showers undone. Of course, I just heard these stories, but they're well enough to be true. I heard even traffic enforcers and police officers ran.
Not all the stories I've heard are chaotic though, a friend of mine told me she just kept all her things while her other friends had started to cry or just felt panicky. Hey, you gotta at least have your things when you get swallowed by a wave, right? I mean, how would they identify your body? Just kidding.
Hours after the earthquake, aftershocks are still coming in. And from what I've heard it'll last a couple of days, or weeks since it happened on a "new fault line" or whatever that is.
Whenever a natural disaster happens, it's not always okay, but if funnier stuff happened then at least you have something to share. Unless, of course, if you're dead.
I'm gonna have to suffer some nausea. Damn, quake.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the bad post guys. This is what happens if I force things.
And BTW, kudos to the dick who freaked people out for nothing.
If you're feeling a little Jurassic Park-y, try putting a plastic cup or glass of water near you, and when an aftershock happens, see what happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment