Yesterday morning, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck La Union, with other parts of northern Luzon, including Baguio City, feeling the tremors.
So far as of this writing there have been no reports of damage, while one report claims someone died of a heart attack in Baguio City while the quake was happening.
Now the people there can’t help but be on alert for aftershocks, no doubt having been appraised of what quakes can do and how devastating they can be following what happened in northern Cebu recently.
Speaking of aftershocks, as of yesterday noon, a total of 10,006 aftershocks have been recorded following the 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit northern Cebu.
If anything else, this should show us that it’s not quite over yet and, more importantly, that quakes are more unpredictable compared to other natural disasters.
Let’s not be fooled that quakes can be predicted with precision. Yes, there are general patterns that we can observe and analyze, but we can never say when a quake will strike somewhere specific and how strong it will be.
So if someone shares a post in social media that a quake will happen somewhere at a certain time, take it with a grain of salt and don’t immediately share it.
Let’s also not be fooled into thinking that we won’t get shaken just because a quake happened somewhere else. La Union is quite far from where the current aftershocks are being concentrated and recorded. We are sure they never saw it coming, but it came anyway.
These latest developments should remind us that unlike other natural disasters, earthquakes can strike anywhere without warning. While typhoons or tsunamis can be observed forming from a ways off, seasons of drought or flood can be predicted months ahead with a high degree of accuracy, and volcanic eruptions give off many warnings signs, earthquakes are still far off from becoming predictable.
What’s the best we can do about it? Nothing much, except take measures to make our homes and critical infrastructure resilient, not live in hazard zones, and be prepared to deal with what happens after.