As anybody who follows any news at all knows by now, there was a major earthquake in Chile on Saturday. The magnitude was 8.8 on the Richter Scale. Remember the January earthquake in Haiti? It was a 7.0 magnitude. Do you know what the difference between the two is? I knew it was a big difference, but I was surprised when there was a Geologist on CNN explaining the difference between a 7.0 Quake and an 8.8. An 8.8 Quake is approximately 900 times more powerful than a 7.0. So, there were more than 200,000 people killed in Haiti in January, and the Chile Quake was 900 times more powerful! Can you imagine?
Twice in my lifetime, I have been in a 7+ magnitude earthquake. The first time was sometime in the early 90’s, I’ve forgotten the actual year that it occurred. We were in General Santos City. We had just arrived in the morning for a vacation, and in the late afternoon the earth shook. Somehow, it didn’t seem that bad to us at that time. Having just spent nearly 24 hours on airplanes, we still didn’t have our “land legs” yet, and everything was seeming a bit wobbly anyway, so the earthquake just seemed to intensify that a bit. A few weeks later, when we returned home to the States, I was reading in the newspaper that there had been a major quake in the Philippines, in General Santos City. I looked at the time and date of the event, and immediately realized that we were there, and we did remember experiencing something weird at the time. While that event was strange to us, we didn’t really find it scary. I attribute that to the fact that we had just arrived from a long journey and were still somewhat out of sorts at the time.
The second big quake that I lived through was on January 1, 2002, New Years Day. We had been up late for New Years Eve, and it was my intention to sleep in and catch up on my rest. Surprise, surprise, though… we ended up being shaken out of bed on New Years Morning. Yes, at about 5:20 am as I recall, I landed on the floor after falling out of the bed. There was a 7.0 Quake that had just hit. Feyma and I were literally thrown to the floor. Feyma immediately ran to the kid’s bedroom, I had a hard time getting up from the floor, but made my way into the doorway between our bedroom and the bathroom. I was yelling to Feyma to just gather the kids and stay in a doorway, don’t try to go outside or bring everybody to be with me. The shaking seemed to go on forever, and as I recall, we were literally crying in fear. I honestly thought that I was going to die that day. Frankly, it scared the hell out of me.
During my lifetime, I have lived in a lot of places that had earthquakes regularly, including California. I can’t say for sure how many, but I would bet that in my 48 years on the earth I have probably experienced at least 1,000 earthquakes. No place that I have lived in my life has been as geologically active as Mindanao, though. We get earthquakes in Mindanao several times per week, on average. Most of them are so small that you cannot feel them. Probably 6 or 8 times per year we have a quake of sufficient size that we feel it, and some of them are somewhat significant quakes in the 4 or 5 range on the Richter Scale.
When I experienced that New Years 2002 quake, something in me changed. Before that, if I experienced a small earthquake of 3 to 5 on the Richter Scale, it really didn’t bother me, in fact, it was kind of fun. That 2002 quake, though, gave me a new respect, and a fear of earthquakes. Since that big quake, I have been of the belief that there is a good chance that I will die in an earthquake. I hope it isn’t for a long, long time, but in my mind, that is what I think. Now, even when there is a small quake, my first thought is that “this could be a big one” just getting started. I debate in my mind what I should do, maybe go under my desk, check on the family, whatever. After a second or two, and it is obvious that it is only a small quake, my heart eases back to normal, and I relax. But, the fear is there. I don’t like that, because I didn’t have this fear before the big New Years quake.
This past weekend was a bit spooky for me. On Friday afternoon and evening, we experienced 3 relatively large quakes here in Mindanao. I reported on Facebook at about 5pm on Friday that we were currently experiencing a quake in Davao, which turned out to be a 5.8. Later that night, close to Midnight, we had another 5+ quake, although I was sleeping and did not wake up. Also, on Friday, Northern Mindanao had a significant quake in the 5 range. So, Friday was a geologically active day in Mindanao. Then, on Saturday, around mid-day, my friend, and LiP participant, Henry Stewart sent me a message on Facebook. He said, in response to my message about the earthquake in Davao:
Looks like something for me to look forward to?
Henry went on to tell me that he had never experienced an earthquake in his life. It kind of surprised me, because I know that Henry has been to Davao at least twice, and it would kind of be expected to have experienced an earthquake here during his visits. Anyway, I told Henry just to hope we didn’t have anything like what Haiti had just experienced. It was only a few hours later that the 8.8 hit in Chile, one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history.
So, this is what is like living on the Ring of Fire. What is the Ring of Fire, you ask? Well, The Ring of Fire is the most geologically active part of the earth, it encircles the Pacific Ocean, running up and down the coast of North and South America, and the Pacific Coast in Asia. The Philippines sits right on top of the Ring of Fire. That’s why we have lots of earthquakes here, and other things like Volcanoes. It’s not only Mindanao that gets the earthquakes either. In 1990 there was a killer earthquake in Baguio City, and there have been other significant quakes in every part of the Philippines. However, I believe, that the vast majority of the quakes in the Philippines happen in the Mindanao region. A particularly active quake zone near Mindanao is in the seas between Mindanao and Indonesia. Of course, over the past decade, Indonesia has been the king of big quakes, especially down in the Sumatra and Aceh regions.
So, if you decide to come and live in the Philippines, keep in mind, you are going to be living right on top of the Ring of Fire. For some who have never had the experience, riding out a 4 or 5 Intensity earthquake might be considered fun, kind of like hitting the roller coaster at Six Flags or some such place. But, believe me, if you happen to get hit with a big quake, it’s not fun. It’s life and death staring you in the face. You can’t understand the feeling until you experience it. I hope that I won’t ever experience it again, but I doubt that I will be that lucky.
Yeah that Chilean earthquake put a big scare for us here in Hawaii. I bet Paul and the rest of the Ilocos region was a little worried too. We don’t get the big earthquakes in Hawaii, but every big earthquake in the ring of fire has the potential to give us tsunamis.
Hi Jay – I’m glad that the tsunami was not as bad as predicted! Both for Hawaii and the Philippines!
Hi Jay & Bob – Only the very northernmost tip of Ilocos Norte was placed at tsunami warning #2 for a while, then the alerts were later cancelled. At most, the tsunami would have been a series of waves not much taller than one meter.
We get our share of earthquakes. There are the weekly “adjustments and shifts” that are barely perceptible but still recorded & reported. Felt two around level 4 during February.
Gotta love it to live it! 😉
Hi Paul – Yeah, the shifts and shakes happen regularly here. Intensity 4 quakes usually hit somewhere in Mindanao daily, or at least 5 times per week or so. It always seems like GenSan is the most active area.
I felt two earthquakes on Friday in Gensan.
I don’t think I’ve experienced a 7+ quake (don’t really want to), but two that stand out for me are the Sylmar quake in the early ’70s, and the Northridge quake in ’94.
Hi Gary – I remember both of those quakes too. I was just a kid when the Sylmar quake hit. When the Northridge Quake hit, I was in GenSan. I remember hearing about it on CNN there in the Tierra Verde Hotel! Ah, those were the days…. 😉
two weeks before the Northridge quake i was working and the LA. park district at simi valley, going to CSUN and doing an internship at cedars sinai med ctr… i hate earthquakes !
Hi Tommy – I hate them too!
Seems there was a significant earthquake off Okinawa just prior to the Chilean earthquake as well. There is certainly a lot going on with the “Pacific Plates” these days.
Having lived in Tokyo three years I am somewhat used to quakes in general … but having arrived in Japan just a few months after the last heavy damage one there … the 1996 Kyoto quake, I certainly respect/fear them.
BTW, Alaska is without question the most ‘quake active’ US state, but for those fellow Americans who always seem to answer, ‘we never get those’, anyone want to name the conterminous state that claims the largest US quake ever? (Hint … it’s a thousand or more miles from California)
That’s true, Dave. I forgot to mention that there was a significant quake in Japan on Saturday morning. You know, the pacific plates have been active for a number of years now. At least back to the 2004 Boxing Day event, and I would argue back to the mid-90’s or so.
Hi Dave – Largest US earthquake ever in the continuous 48? Think you’ll have to “Show Me” a calendar for 1811! 😉
Yep, many think quakes are only in certain well know places, but there have been recorded earthquakes in every state of the US, IIRC, and Missouri indeed had the largest. Pretty infrequent, to be sure, but then again, about 80% of the ‘experts’ said that Pinatubo wouldn’t amount to much either 😉
I live in Missouri and we rarely get real bad earthquakes here but we have very many small ones due to the New Madrid Fault Line which was the cause of the 1811 earthquake. Many believe there will be more really bad ones in the future due to it.
Experienced my first one a few years ago. Can’t remember how big it was, wasn’t real bad but enough to put a scare in me. The feeling of powerlessness is overwhelming.
Hi LJ – I thought you were in IL, now you are in MO! You move around a lot, my friend! 😉
Yeah, that New Madrid Fault is due for a biggie, they say.
Moved here to Missouri in October of last year. Found a much better place out in the country.
Actually I don’t move around a lot just this one time. Was at the last place for 3 years.
I was just kidding you, LJ! 😉
As Jerry Lee Lewis would say “There’s alot of whole shaking going on”..I don’t remember ever so many earthquakes going on so close together and everywhere not just one place……, maybe Mother Nature is trying to tell us something. One of the reasons I moved from Whittier was because of earthquake possibility in LA area. When Northridge hit I remember my doorway swaying like a rubber band, was scary, you do feel helpless. I have a prediction, Bob, your not going to die in a earthquake. I hope its a good prediction because its my first. Hey!, Has Manila ever been shook up? Have a good day.
Hi lenny – Yeah, the odds are that I won’t die in an earthquake, so you are probably safe with your prediction. But, it is a feeling I have inside me, though. 😉
Manila has had earthquakes, I’m not sure how big, though.
Bob
That aint no Johnny Cash song!!
After all I read on the sometimes poor concrete used in construction and seemingly lax building codes there in RP, I would be a bit paranoid if “the big one” hit there.
I guess you live in fear of every possible catastrophy there would not be much time for actually living.
That’s true, Neal, you can’t live fearing everything that life has to offer. Funny thing is, in 2002 when we got the 7.0 in GenSan, the damage around town was relatively minor.
Hi Bob;
Earthquakes I’ve been through have never really been that bad where I was standing at the time. Athens Greece in 1967 was my first. California I had just driven through LA when that big one hit in the 90’s. But went through many, many tremors the rest of the time I was in CA. We were tied to a pier in Guam when a big one hit, destroyed the pier, no damage to my ship, just some rocking. Here at my house in Bataan, we get a little shaking 2 to 3 times a week, never any damage yet. It’s a very unstable world we live on.
On a funny note when NASA landed their first probe on Mars, they reported signs of earthquakes in the area they landed. Wouldn’t they be Mars quakes?
Hi Paul – Ha ha… when you mentioned the “earthquakes” on Mars, the exact same thought entered my mind! 😯
I was out island hoping yesterday. The seas did seem a bit rough but otherwise normal. How was it on the pacific side? :))
As for earthquakes, I have been in a major quake in Japan and California. Small ones in Japan and other places around 5 quakes (that I know of) plus aftershocks… Ha-ha don’t worry about it Kuya Bob, I have been through every natural disaster in the world except being up close to a volcano.
Hi Mike – I’ve been in them all… including volcanoes. I used to live only 30 miles from Mt. St. Helens. I’ve been in Hurricanes, Typhoons, Volcanoes just about any kind of disaster I can think of. Earthquakes are the only ones that really scare me, though.
Luckily for Chileans their infrastructure is a lot better than Haiti’s was and even though the quake was much bigger in Chile there isn’t even close to the number of deaths as in Haiti. I believe the last number I read about was a little over 700 deaths so far.
Real happy that tsunami didn’t amount to much.
Hi LJ – I think the toll will go up, but nowhere near Haiti, though.
Bob: It is just part of living in a geologically active area. Fear does no good, since you cannot change the occurrence of quakes. What you CAN do is be prepared for when it happens: Keep flashlights with batteries handy. Tinned food, bottled water to last several days, a battery or solar powered radio, a fire extinguisher (many earthquake deaths result from gas lines… Those LPG tanks powering your stove can easily rupture), and a first aid kit. Have a plan to move to a safe area when they occur.
The difference in deaths between Haiti and Chile was largely due to the local infrastructure… Chile was far more developed and had enforced building codes. Think of the infrastructure in the Philippines and the preparedness of local aid, and draw your own conclusions: If anything happens, you might have to rely solely on yourself for quite a while.
Hi John – I know it is something that can’t be changed (except for preparation), but they still scare me!
With these quakes going on around the world, churches quoting end time signs from Scripture, and apocalyptic movies, I am sure many people are in panic about some disaster.
Before I came here, months before, I looked at a natural disaster hazard chart of Phils. I think Davao City is the 2nd to worse color on the quake chart.
I experienced my first tremor here, and it was interesting. I just felt my second one about an hour ago. Haha. I will be honest; as nice as Davao is and everything, the earthquake thing is the only thing I have a slight worry about. Mostly I worry about my girlfriend or the future and such dealing with probs that lead to death.
Really though, I ain’t in a full blown anxiety like I normally would be about something. I used to panic when I was younger in thunderstorms over tornadoes. I try to reason out irrational worry with rational worry. The problem is, though, is that sometimes I become irrational trying to deny reality. So, right now, I’m just going with the flow and hoping for the best.
Hi Jawz – Even though I have said that I fear earthquakes… logically, they should not be feared. The odds of actually being hurt in an earthquake, or killed, even in a place like Davao that has lots of quakes, is very remote. I don’t wallow in fear of an earthquake. It is just something at the back of my mind.
Hello everyone,
Lived through every kind of disaster except a volcano as most of you have that’s what makes life worth living an unexpected rush of adrenaline. But all those together still does not beat the rush of crossing the boulevards in Manila! Man what a rush 🙂
It’s true Michels5098 – a little excitement keeps things interesting… let’s keep it to a minimum, though!
Hi Sir Bob i should have been in Chile last week in a town called Temuco about 80 miles form the epi centre. But due to more problems with this ear i have delayed the trip and due to leave for Chile on 7 March. As i should have been in Temuco last Saturday but was in fact at home in bed. I will not complain about this ear again.
That ear is a possible life-saver, Frank! Hope you feel better soon!
I was just wondering if maybe that is why most house there are built with such cheap materials. Cheap and easy to rebuild, and not so much weight if they fall on you.
Hi Richard – I have actually thought about that myself.
I was talking to Juramie on Saturday morning and was shocked to see the news on Saturday morning about the Chile earthquake. I started to google past earthquakes and saw a story about the tsunami from the 9.5 Chile earthquake in 1960. My jaw dropped when I read that 36 people died from the tsunami in the Philippines and that the wave hit Tacloban. I was able to get Juramie the information and she contacted family members that lived close to the water in Tagbubunga. I rather be cautious and alert even though I knew that everybody would be safe.
This is becoming 2nd favorite website (after your site of course).
http://earthquake.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/update_SOEPD/EQLatest.html
I pulled this up on Saturday also. Juramie knew nothing about the 4.3 earthquake in Ormoc.
Hi Jack – It’s amazing, but sometimes people here just don’t follow the news. I suppose it is not important to their lives.
I actually found the opposite to be true with her friends and family in Tagbubunga. After she contacted family members, they were watching CNN for news on the tsunami. Tagbubunga is on the Camotes Sea so there is a respect and fear from nature. I agree with Mike. There were older people who remembered the 1960 tsunami. Juramie family went up to the mountain just to play it safe.
As for the earthquake, Juramie saw family off at a very early time in the morning. She took a nap and slept through the quake. It was funny when we were looking at the website and saw the intensity level in Ormoc and Palompon.
Interesting, Jack.
Bob,
Coming from the southeast coast of the USA I am more used to Hurricanes and they can be terrifying as “Andrew” was back in 92. Hurricanes last hours while earthquakes do their damage quickly and then hit you with more sinister teasing with their aftershocks. The Philipines unfortunately gets the worst of everything with both Typhoons and earthquakes. Frankly, this places scares the pants off me. It’s almost like a Haiti with its lack of building controls in many places!!!
Presently I am renting in a sub division and quite frankly the developer of this sub division builds absolute crap!!! Without naming names he is one of the biggest low to moderate income builders in the country and very well known. We have felt quakes often while in the house and more cracks in the walls appear after each time. If a big quake hits while we are in our rental we are surely dead.
I will soon be building our own house and for sure it will be built 100% with earthquakes in mind so I have peace of mind for my family.
Hi richard – Yes, even on rather expensive houses, the quality of construction is not what it should be, I am in agreement with you on that one!
I was wondering when someone was going to mention the tsunami of 1960. Those whom have an interest in “all things Filipino” should chat with some of the older folk about this. The stories are fascinating.
There is a village on an island in The Philippines(forget the name) which is swept by a tsunami every 60 years, or so. Each time, most of the village inhabitants are killed and the survivors simply rebuild, rather than move.
My first experience with a “significant” quake was in my apartment in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, with a group of friends. I had always expected to experience a shake, but this was more of a wave-effect. Very unsettling as it is a real wake-up call to the power of nature.
Suggestion: Have a crank-to-charge flashlight & a whistle close to where you sleep. A bottle of water might be a good idea, as well.
Mike
That’s interesting, Mike! I have not heard about those people.
Also read about what happened in Sodom and Gomorrea. Now that turned out to be pretty hot and salty!
Bot Zee – And your point is?
I can imagine the earth stretching out it’s legs. One slip will affect another area. Possibly more areas of the plates are under stress, so when it moves it can activate others.
A small input to it is today we have instantaneous news, maybe not so small? This instant news from all over the world may make it seem it is more active? I am sure there are some statistics somewhere……….i2f
It’s certainly true, imagine, that every shift affects other shifts, etc. It’s a constantly moving system.
I experienced my first and only eathquake about a month after I arrived at Subic/Cubi Pt, in about July 1971. It was a 4; and I was laying in a bed, at the Cubi Point BOQ. I couldn’t get up (froze) and just lay there to ride it out. It felt like the building had gone to sea, and was rocking like a ship. I’m an ex-Navy carrier sailer, and that is what it felt like to me. No damage luckily.
There have been earthquakes in the Manila area, I believe in about 1968, the Hilton Hotel was damaged bad enough to be closed for awhile.
Hi Larry – a 4 is just a small quake, so you have been lucky! You don’t even want to feel a 7!