Pol Lugo
SURIGAO City––Tectonic earthquake strikes suddenly and without warning. It is often caused by Global Warming or the movement of tectonic plates.
We have been experiencing tectonic earthquakes lately but with less damaging magnitude except of what happened in Bohol and Cebu provinces where there were reports of destruction of properties and deaths.
Nepal, a country at the foot of Mount Everest, known as the roof of the world, was struck lately by tectonic earthquake of an intensity of 7.8. I was in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, when it happened on April 25, 2015. With God’s grace, my wife, my daughter’s family and I were spared because the house·rented by my daughter was strong enough to resist that magnitude.
The jolting and shaking of that earthquake of 7.8 magnitude last for about 45 seconds which started at noon and its aftershocks with an interval of about 15 to 30 minutes continued until 6 pm. I thought that was the end, not of me, but of Nepal.
The earthquake overwhelmingly devastated Nepal. Numerous old and tall buildings were, leveled to the ground. The estimated lost of human life figured to more than ten thousand, and agricultural crops, work animals and livestock destroyed and killed were enumerable!
Luckily, the earthquake struck on a Saturday, a rest day in Nepal. If it was on a Sunday, which is a working day, the death toll could be an imaginable.
Kathmandu which is a valley, is like Baguio City. It is not along the seacoast. If it could have been, it would be like Aceh in Indonesia and Fukosima in Japan which were leveled down by Tsunami. That could have been a double whammy to Kathmandu!
If a similar intensity could happen in your place, are you prepared to survive? Or land in a hospital? Or, perhaps, in a cemetery?
Actually, earthquakes do not kill, it is due to lack of preparation for the earthquake that kills.
Preparing for earthquake involves learning what you should do before, during and after it.
Before a strong earthquake with an intensity of 7 .8 happens, see to it that your house is resistant to damage by assessing its structure. If it is weak, start retrofitting it. Foundations of your house must be anchored not on a soft ground, and the walls must be strongly reinforced.
Prepare your family to react to earthquake safely. Practice by having earthquake drill in your home. Through practice you can condition the members of your family to react safely when the first strong jolt or shaking is felt.
Identify in your home the safest place to “drop, cover and hold on” during your earthquake drill. Practice going to those safe spots and let everyone do it. But be sure that, that spot is strong enough and it will not collapse. Or else the rest of you will be buried alive. Simba ko!
Maintain a household emergency supply kit that all of you know where it is kept, and that the supply will last for three to five days. Ensure, too, that you have a charged and loaded cellphone and be sure that you all know the location of the designated open field evacuation area by your local government unit.
As the Boy Scout motto says, “be prepared,” so be with you.
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