Man-made disasters unmasked

It was around 10 o'clock night of Sept. 30 when a powerful magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck Cebu. Traced as epicenter of the deadly tremor was the coast of Bogo City in Cebu. The devastating earthquake, with more than a hundred succeeding aftershocks, killed 79 people and left over 170,000 people affected, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported.

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

The earthquake was so strong that tsunami advisories were triggered, widespread power outages and landslides occurred. Thousands of Cebuanos were displaced and vital infrastructure, including homes, schools and hospitals, collapsed, were damaged or destroyed. Classes were suspended for several days while offices and commerce gradually got back to business-as-usual and the rest of the Cebuanos slowly returned to their normal daily living.

Until the next tragedy befell Cebu anew when on Tuesday, Nov. 4 Super Typhoon Tino unleashed its mighty fury all over the island and neighboring provinces. Tons of rain caused massive flashfloods and landslides. The official death toll provided by the NDRRMC and from all the local government units (LGUs) of the affected provinces was nearing the 300 mark. It may breach this mark as scores of people remain missing as of this writing.

Cebu recorded the highest number of fatalities at 139. Many of the still missing people are from Cebu and Negros. Personally visiting Cebu last Friday, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) could only mutter his profuse apology for the high number of fatalities. “We are very, very sorry,” PBBM told reporters after a situation briefing at the Cebu capitol. “We are all sad because our casualty figures are very high.”