AS SEEN ON TV
Are you ready for the big one?
Manila–If you love doomsday movies and if you’ve seen the most recent end-of-the-world blockbuster film “2012”, the recent earthquakes and tsunamis befalling our planet should make you wonder if the world is really winding down to an end.
Fresh from an efficient “2012” scare, the killer quakes came at a time when there is still a lingering paranoia over doomsday scenarios. Hollywood did spend a collective fortune of producers and show businessmen to portray the end of mankind horrifyingly via special effects.
But no 3D rendition can top real time, real people misery aired repeatedly over CNN and the BBC as real life temblors brought down buildings, lives and governments in Haiti and Chile. In Haiti the horror of the initial, simultaneous deaths were belittled by the chaos that ensued—- one that demonstrated how far more calamitous it is if an unprepared nation is struck with disaster. Looting, hunger and disease hounded survivors as the government lay helpless. More of the survivors died a slow painful death waiting for help, while rehabilitation takes eternity. Haiti has not been back on its feet months after the major killer quake.
Chile which already experienced a killer quake in 1960 has prepared well for the recurrence of the big one. Due to its stable buildings (as a result of a well-enforced building code), the destruction was not as bad as Haiti. The Chilean earthquake also tensed up its Pacific neighbors as a tsunami scare threatened countries across the Pacific. Hawaii embarked on a massive evacuation of coastlines shortly hours after Chile was rocked by an 8.8 shaker.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake also hit Tuguegarao, disrupting President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s speech before locals. This happened when the world is still horrified by the Chilean earthquake experience, that some of us may ask two curious questions:
1. Are the recent earthquakes related to each other?
2. Are these earthquakes an omen of a major killer quake in the very near future?
Everyday, an earthquake occurs everywhere in the world. And PHIVOLCS Director, Dr. Renato Solidum thinks these earthquakes recently felt in many parts of the world is not necessarily an imminent sign that a “big one” is about to come.
Solidum was my guest on Dateline Philippines Sunday on ANC, to talk about the recent earthquakes and to demystify a premise presented by our producers that the recent earthquakes are related and that these are a crescendo to a major killer quake bound to happen very soon.
“Earthquakes happen several times a day in different parts of the world. It’s just that the very recent ones happened in very populated areas therefore, people talk about it,” Solidum said. “The news coverage of these recent earthquakes also helped open the awareness of the public about the threats, and how to best prepare for them,” added Solidum.
The key to surviving earthquakes is preparation and disaster prevention through planning. Solidum believes that as a nation sitting on the Pacific Ring of Fire (an area where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur in the basin of the Pacific Ocean) we should be more prepared to cope with earthquakes than any other country.
PHIVOLCS recommends that we determine whether the site (of our house or building) is on an active fault or prone to landslide. These constructions must also have proper structural design and sound engineering practices are followed during construction. There is a need to constantly reevaluate the integrity of buildings and reinforce or retrofit when necessary. Local government units must also enforce building codes without falter while systematically disapproving
constructions in known fault lines.
And here are some other insights from that conversation with Solidum:
Palawan is the safest place in the Philippines. “The area does not lie along the major fault lines. Although the really strong earthquakes may still be felt in the area, the destruction will not be as significant as other islands in the Philippines particularly those along the Manila trench”, Solidum said.
It pays to heed the warning of animals. This is more scientific than superstitious. Animals are known to have acted strangely prior to a major earthquake because their senses are keener than those of humans. “Earth tremors not felt by humans are felt by animals,” according to
Solidum.
