Espinoza: Educate people about disasters

Thursday, February 9, 2012

JUDGING from the reaction to the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit Negros and which was felt in Cebu, we are apparently not ready for a catastrophe like the tsunami that hit Japan last year. Worse, concerned government agencies are also unprepared.

Misinformed about a tsunami, people who live near the sea left their homes on foot and on vehicles to seek higher grounds like the Capitol. This resulted to humongous traffic in the downtown and uptown areas.

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I was sorting out case folders at the back seat of my car after I parked it in our law office before noon Monday when I noticed that my hands holding the folders swayed from left to right. I also heard a roaring sound underneath me.

I saw members of our staff scamper down from the third floor of the building to the street shouting “linog! linog!” Then the lights went out. That was the only time I realized an earthquake had struck. I didn’t run. I stayed beside the huge column of the building.

I think we are the only people in the world, perhaps to relieve fear, who could afford to smile or laugh after a disaster. Members of our staff and people from neighboring offices who congregated on the street were laughing while recounting their experience.

My son Dominic told me on the phone that they were holding classes at the fourth floor of Cebu Doctors University in Mandaue City when the earthquake struck. He said they looked like ants chasing each other as they raced down the stairs to get out of the building.

My wife, Dr. Malou, who was in Naval, Biliran that day only noticed a minor tremor. Most of the people of Naval, she said, did not know an earthquake had struck as they went on with their usual undertakings.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) 7 insisted that they were correct in issuing Tsunami Alert Level 2 after the earthquake hit Negros and frightened the people.

No one would dispute the position of Phivolcs. The problem is that most, if not all, of us don’t know Tsunami Alert Level 2. We only knew what it is after Phivolcs explained it to us after the pandemonium.

Worse, there were people who probably were joking at the height of their idiocy, shouting that seawater had risen to Colon St. That caused motorists and sidewalk vendors to panic and run.

After the tsunami in Japan, concerned government agencies should have educated us more about earthquakes and tsunamis. Last Monday’s incident proved that the government is unprepared.

That’s the problem with our setup. Politics dominate and our politicians are pre-occupied with politicking that they forget their oath to serve the public to the best of their abilities.

What comes to mind after the earthquake is the end of the world on December 2012, as predicted by the Mayans. The thought of this prophecy added to the mayhem last Monday.

Two days later, here comes the joke. A lawyer asked another lawyer to call a real estate broker/agent and ask if there are damaged units in high-rise condominiums in Cebu so he could buy these at 50 percent discount.

With the forecast of more earthquakes (there was a tremor at 8:42 a.m. while I was writing this column), the condominium industry here would be hit, unless they are prepared to reduce their prices. But who will buy them even at reduced or discounted price?

(elespinoza53@yahoo.com)