This has been a long, long week. It all started last Tuesday, October 15, 2013. It was supposed to be just another ordinary holiday. We were eating breakfast in a way that we usually do during holidays. Suddenly, we felt the earth shaking. It lasted longer than I thought it would. My sister was still sleeping when it happened. While we hurried out of the house, Dad had to wake her up. It was so shocking and frightening because we didn't know what else could happen in the house.
Few minutes after we got out, we were talking about how that earthquake was the strongest one they have ever felt in their lives. My grandma, who lives with us, is already 74 and she feels the same way. We kept talking about it even as that first wave stopped.
Initially, there was no power in the house for precautionary measures. Eventually it was put back on. While watching the news on TV, the aftershocks kept coming. Good thing we have a mirror that can detect the slightest movement due to aftershocks. All plans I had for that day went to a screeching halt.
In the afternoon, all I was doing was watch TV and anime on my computer. I went up to my room shortly after watching certain shows on TV to watch Shingeki no Kyojin. (This is a really dark and morbid anime, but cool nonetheless. I might review it soon!) The sad part about watching it that afternoon was that the aftershocks kept kicking in, so the morbid parts of the episode felt more morbid than usual. After one aftershock happened, I went down to the living room to take a breather. Few minutes later, I went back up to watch again. THEN ANOTHER AFTERSHOCK HAPPENED. After that, I just stayed downstairs and meddled with my phone.
While all that was happening, a lot of sad news came in. People died because the roof of the Pasil Fish Port collapsed. The belfry of the Basilica del Sto. Niño fell. Churches in Bohol were crushed by the powerful earthquake. Some bridges there became impassable. People in Cebu and Bohol are panicking because of the quakes. They either brought tents outside and slept there or simply slept on the roads since they were all scared of going back inside for there might be more aftershocks.
The story didn't stop there though, as the next day was even more troubling. At dawn, ANOTHER aftershock happened and people were awakened by it. Some couldn't even sleep because they were frightened by it. On my way to work, I tried to find some damages of the earthquake. Unfortunately, I never found any until I got in to the elevator area of the ground floor of our building. There were already remnants of the earthquake. When I got to the 7th floor and reached my cubicle in the office, my McDonald's tumbler fell to the chair. At least that's what happened in my cubicle. In other cubicles, I saw CPU towers fall on its side. On the ceiling, there were lights and smoke alarms moved. Thankfully, the network didn't suffer any damage, as that would have affected our work that day. Unfortunately, we felt TWO aftershocks in the office in the morning. After lunch, we were allowed to go home early since the aftershocks really worried the people in the office.
Up to this day, we are still experiencing aftershocks. It sucks that we have to live with this for a while since I am most concerned with the people of Bohol. They are the ones who suffered most in these tragic times. The reason why I put up that picture of the full moon is because it reminded me that despite the darkness, there will always be that light shining on us. We can rise again. We should help those people in need so that our comeback will be stronger than ever. If you're confused as to how you can help, check out @BangonSugBohol on Twitter or those non-profit organizations that you already know, or go here: http://www.istorya.net/forums/content/bangonsugbohol-call-action-help-our-brothers-and-sisters-need-480/.
Fellow Cebuanos and Boholanos, stay safe always!
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