Remember When the Earth Moved?

My sister and I were talking yesterday and she was asking me if we were affected by the recent earthquake here in China. Fortunately, we are very far from the center so we are safe. The recent earthquake left almost 15,000 (and counting) people dead and the survivors are now forced to stay outside their homes for safety. I can imagine how sad and difficult it must be for them. I know because I also experienced such thing. I remember on July 16, 1990, Philippines experienced an earthquake with the intensity of 7.8 (same intensity like in Chengdu) and I remember clearly how it happened.

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon and we were still inside the classroom preparing to go home. When our teacher asked us to stand and say our “Goodbyes” for the day, it happened. The floor shook so hard, everybody was stunned. The school building where we were is built on a tilted land. Sometime during the ground was shaking, the floor was cut in half, the half remain untouched but the other half collapsed taking half of classroom furniture and half of the pupils. Fortunately, I was one of those who were standing on the remaining part of the floor. Right after that, she pupils started to scream and cry and when the ceiling posed to collapse, the teacher who was also stunned got her senses back and urged the students to rush out of the door. I was the last pupil to go out of the room. If my teacher didn’t drag me out, I would have just stayed there.

Oddly, I didn’t crying. I just sat calmly on the ground as instructed and I watched other pupils cry and scream while teachers are trying to calm them down. The school officials didn’t allow anybody to go out of the gate but the gate was open for those who would like to enter and stay on the school grounds. We have a wide open ground and it should be the safest place in the entire neighborhood.

I was there watching all the chaos but strange because I remember I was not feeling anything. Only when I heard my older sister calling out my name I felt my heart beat faster. My sister and I were the same school. I was in grade 3 and she was in grade 6. Like the rest, she was already crying but was calmed when she found me. We hugged and when she asked if I am okay, I didn’t answer. I cried instead. I cried hard. I felt weakened and I was very scared. I was screaming and calling out “Papa” and “Mama”.

After about an hour, we saw our papa rushing to us and the sight of him gave me the feeling that everything was okay again. We hugged and I heard him uttering a soft prayer thanking God that we are safe. Then finally he said we can’t go home for the night but he promised to build us a tent and we could play Indians. He instructed my sister to keep an eye on me while he gets some things to build our tent. He promised to be back and he made me promised to stay with my sister. After an hour or so, he was back with things he can use to build the tent, some warm clothes for us, blankets, canned good, and candies. He put up the tent while we watched him and I remember, it was a crappy tent but for me it was the greatest. It rained a little bit that night but I slept peacefully knowing that my papa is there and everything will be alright.

The earthquake left around 1,000 people dead in our city and 600 more in nearby municipalities. Just a few compared to how many died in China now but just the same, it was still a difficult time. We lived in tents for months because aftershocks happen so often and it was not safe to stay in our homes. Almost all shops were closed, medical help was difficult to get, and sanitation can’t be maintained because toilets are not enough for the number of evacuees and garbage are not collected regularly. It was the rainy season so that made it more difficult.

Now I pray for the people who are affected by the recent earthquake.