It was a scene straight from a disaster movie. A massive tsunami strikes and engulfs a city. It washes everything in its path, cars, farmhouses, silos and even trucks. Only this one is for real.
Japan was struck by a powerful earthquake earlier today, measuring at 8.9 magnitude. It caused heavy damages in the cities affected. It also triggered a massive 10 meter tsunami that brought even more damage to the country's coastline.
So powerful was the tsunami that it sent thousands of people across the Pacific Rim to evacuate. Here in the Philippines, a tsunami alert warning was issued minutes after the quake struck. Residents along the coastline of the North Luzon region were asked to go to higher grounds. Concerns were also raised for loved ones who are living in areas in the Pacific. I have a sister in Hawaii where a tsunami warning was also declared.
Thankfully, the waves that reached our shores were not even a meter high so there were no damages reported in those areas.
But the images we see online were scary and troubling. It's proof that when it comes to natural disasters, there's little, or nothing, that we can do. It also brought up the question on how well our government is prepared to address such calamities.
We cannot predict when it will be our turn to get hit by an earthquake that's a massive as the one that hit Japan. The last real devastating tremor we had was 20 years ago. Since we share the same area with Japan, it really pays that we all should be alert at all times.
yesterday's events really scared me... i almost packed emergency bags for Mon and me in any event that a disaster strikes the Phil, too... napraning ako ha... i felt really scared and helpless. it's nature's call.. nature's wrath.
ReplyDeletei had to turn the tv off because i was really starting to freak out...
thank god nothing happened the rest of the night... sana wala na... sana.
I was in a bus when I saw the video of the tsunami engulfing the farm village in Sendai. It was almost like a vision of the end of times.
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