Days 10

I wonder what to talk about next. Maybe we might as well talk about the most talked about topic these days, that is - the west valley fault. The timing was too perfect for panic. Nepal just got hit by two more than 8 magnitude earthquakes and the Bohol quake was still fresh in everyone's minds. It was no surprise when people started getting scared or hyped up and panicky over the internet.

Some people even went out of their way to rally other people from social media to pray for the philippines this early on. There were some people who thought that what we were panicking about already happened and was already on a verge of prayer ralllies and if not for the correction of information they would have proceeded on to create a fund raiser or something.

In the midst of this, I am quite thankful that the information was so quick in dissemination that by this time a lot more people were informed and were clear about what to do. In just one day, maps showing the fault lines were already available in the internet and at this point, some engineers already created a map integrated with google maps to see just where the exact location of those faults were. I think that in this sense, information using the internet was a good thing. I am thankful in these cases because if not, the mass panic would have continued on.

Of course this doesnt mean we have to be complacent. We really should be serious about disaster prevention and not wait until something bad happens. Admittedly I at this point am not yet prepared in a sense that there are still no emergency kits available at my home, and the last time I actually experienced a major earthquake was during my highschool days. We panicked that time as well, but we were able to implement the calm evacuation of people falling in line and all.

These days, information on what to do during earthquakes are abundant in the internet. The problem is, with so much information, you dont know what is right anymore. So then, the most important thing is to participate in these earthquake/fire drills before the actual thing happens. After that we could no longer do anything except to pray and trust God. According to the news, it may take as early as 40 years for the west valley fault to move again, at most, 200 years. But still, you will never know for sure. Preparedness is everything.