MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
In 1990, when the earthquake struck at magnitude 7.7 on July 16, friends asked one another, “Where were you when it happened?”
This time around, July 27, 2022, with the earth shaking at magnitude 7, the question of the day was, “How old were you in 1990?” Inevitably, the popular answer was, “I wasn’t born yet.”
We’ve come a long way since then, 32 years it has been, but no experience of an earthquake ever leaves one unshaken or untraumatized enough to say that it’s just another earthquake or we’re prepared for the next one, not for all the drills and safety tips ingrained into our ears and waking consciousness. As for those “go bags,” otherwise known as earthquake survivor kits, time is the enemy: batteries die, biscuits crumble, stuff expires, you don’t want to keep a three-year-old bottle of water or a can of sardines past its consume-before date. Updating the go bag is like checking your calendar for the next visit to your dentist.
There were many similarities between 1990 and 2022. Both happened in July at daytime on a hot day, both struck Luzon’s northern provinces, both were classified as “destructive” by Phivolcs. To those looking for “hidden meanings” or superstitious clues in the 1990 figures, it figured that 7.7 on the 7th month’s 16th day (1 plus 6 is 7) was eerie. For one thing, its trail of death and destruction was much, much more traumatizing, tearful.
If memory serves, Usec Renato Solidum once told reporters that the difference between one magnitude and the next is that the higher number means it’s 32 times more powerful.
Let’s be thankful for little things, like acknowledging that Wednesday’s trembler was not higher than the 7.3 initially reported by the US Geological Service before Phivolcs made it official at 7.
Be that as it may be, the highly unreasonable conclusion – spelled “hope” – was that this one was The Big
One of our nightmares, except that it is not. For, according to Usec Solidum, this latest shaker was generated by the Abra River Fault, whereas the unmentionable one with the unspeakable name will originate from the West Valley Fault running vertically down the NCR.
Whatever happens, the best, if not the only, advice is “don’t panic.”