Japan’s 3-11-11 Earthquake 8000x stronger than in Christchurch?

A woman amidst debris / AP Photo

News on last Friday’s [March 11, 2011] tsunami in Japan and the earthquake which is said to be nearly 8000 times stronger than the recent earthquake that shook Christchurch in New Zealand, and the images that I saw from the news and amateur footages uploaded on the net created an unsettling feeling and fear in my heart as we live not too far from the sea. Added to it is the fact that Manila is predicted to submerge in the future due to global warming. Though Manila faces the South China Sea and not the Pacific Ocean, the feeling of fear is deep-seated — as such will always be there. As a victim of fire destruction [our house burned in 1998], nature’s wrath and its catastrophic consequences have always frightened me. In situations such as these, I can only but pray and look at man’s material possessions as surely and undoubtedly temporal, even that of man’s existence. The descriptions made by AP writer Malcolm Foster last March 11 about the tsunami in Japan are so vivid, it is akin to a film treatment. [Click to read Powerful quake, tsunami kills hundreds in Japan]

[For some photos of the devastation, click  Japan hit by huge earthquake, tsunami, japan-earthquake-photos_n_834391.html#252198,  japan-earthquake-photos_n_834391.html#252198]

For the live blog of AlJazeera on the quake, pls. click live-blog-japan-earthquake

I remember the DAISY [Digital Accessible Information System] project we made titled “Tsunami.” Now, I think of how in actual tsunami event such as like last Friday’s, Persons with Disabilities [PWD] will be like. If they are warned in time, then, the preparedness of the Japanese as shown to us by our Japanese trainors will be enforced with calm. But how about here in the Philippines where so many are wanting — in terms of equipment, manpower, resources and preparedness? What would it be like for PWDs here when the tsunami waves roll like hell? I hope this serves as a call for our government authorities to give priority to prepare in meeting natural disasters that are bound to come due to men’s negligence of our environment, and due to corruption and personal interests that allowed developers to build buildings on earthquake faults. Activities around the Pacific Ring of Fire is becoming more and more active…

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