ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
No doubt, the earthquakes at Syria and Turkiye are the most deadly and most recent natural calamity ever. Tens of Thousands died and fearfully thousands are feared dead.It is one of the most deadly and Yolanda or Haiyan paled in comparison.
Foreign media and big networks scrambled to make sense of the events. The Hindu Times said that it is the most devastating quake in a century. The Hindu Times added The quake’s focus was 18 km deep, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicentre was about 33 km from Gaziantep. The area has many buildings constructed of brittle concrete (which makes them prone to cracking, spalling, loss of strength, or steel corrosion), making them “extremely vulnerable to earthquake shaking”, according to the USGS.
Nearly 900 buildings were reportedly destroyed in Turkey’s Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras provinces, according to Vice President Fuat Otkay. All buildings located on the cross-border belt connecting the Syrian cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir crumbled as well. This was “historically, the biggest earthquake recorded in the history of the centre”, By now we have known that the confirmed dead are more than 12,000 and rising.
Overall, we are sad and we offer our condolences. In Yolanda times Kim Se Yok Mu, in a belated News Story penned by Julie Aurelio, it was bared that said Humanitarian Organization was one of the First to arrived and help Taclobanons. Indeed, we need to show more than palliatives and social media posts and the City Government can do more on this end.
But more than that, the Tragedy is a WARNING. It is an obvious reminder that the Earth can shake and it can shake so hard it can reduce to rubbles hundreds of buildings. And we , the Philippines in the Pacific Ring of Fire can be subjected to that quake and we may suffer a sad fate like that of these two Middle Eastern Countries ,God forbid .
Thus, it is high time to recalibrate and prepare. Let us conduct drills and preparation events. With simulations, scenario analysis and honest to goodness pag andam.
If not these shaking will come like theft in the night and we will be caught off guard and devastated.
