It was a lazy Monday afternoon. We were in the middle of our thrice-a-week subject (MWF 4PM to 5PM) at the second floor of the 4-storey high school building in my Alma Mater, University of the Assumption. Last subject, as I recall, so we are just waiting for that 5PM dismissal bell. Advance Biology was the subject. Perfect topic for an unexpected real-life example: theory of stimulus and response. Almost halfway past 4PM on a Daylight Savings Time set-up, Sir Rommel Canlas was enthusiastically discussing:
Mr. Canlas (our Advance Bio teacher): "OK now... once there is a stimulus, you should expect a response..."
Whole class: (silent...)
(pounding sound)
(floor moving)
(school mates began shouting) "mamayun!" (Kapampangan for "earthquake!")
We began to panic, took our bags and hurried to the classroom doors. "Don't panic!" Mr. Canlas shouting at us to remind us to be calm and be orderly in exiting the building. But at one glance, we already saw him leaving fast going to the other direction to the faculty room. Our room was beside the stairway and Mr. Canlas took the opposite way. To each his own, we thought, uttering a prayer while walking patiently towards the stairs, that the building will not collapse at least until all of us get to the open field grounds. Saw some school mates posing to jump from our floor since stairways are crowded but they were held by the faculty who were watching over the scenario. Girls were crying already but we all managed to reach the open field without having a stampede or accident. While sitting on the grass, we can literally see our building swaying. And the tremor didn't stop sooner. It was probably one of the longest earthquakes we have experienced and the shaking was a combination of up and down, left to right and circling direction. The 45-second strong earthquake seemed minutes long and we can hear cries already from the students around. It was just Monday, but classes were already suspended for a week to give way to building inspections and for us to stay at home while anticipating more aftershocks in the succeeding days.
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| Christian College of the Philippines after the July 16, 1990 earthquake. Photo credit: picryl.com |
The earthquake left over a thousand and six hundred casualties. The popular Hyatt Hotel in Baguio City collapsed (place where SM Baguio is now erected), Dagupan City heavily damaged due to liquefaction and as a result, many buildings and roads collapsed. Its rehabilitation has to be done for weeks, and even months. In Cabanatuan City, the Christian College of the Philippines looked like an accordion, 6 floors down and hundreds of students trapped for days. Days of darkness and agony. No changing of clothes, no food. Some survivors interviewed on TV said they had to drink their pee to survive for days. It was horrible, given that the victims there were students like us. Empathy, but admittedly, really scary.
As I look back to that day, I realized that unfortunate events happen in cycle. Each time different, but each time it makes you stronger. More importantly, more faithful and trusting in God. Today, before a new decade begins, we are faced with a pandemic. Kids of today will remember this time and most likely have their own stories to tell for the upcoming young generation. As for me, as I age, I realized that a very prominent Filipino saying, "papunta ka pa lang, pabalik na ako" begins to fit my life. Grey hair as they say, are experiences in life. Experiences that come with a lesson to be passed on to generations.
