It's been 25 years already and it seems that as if it only happened yesterday. July 16, 1990 is a date which will live in every minds and hearts of each Baguio residents. I still clearly remember that fateful day. I am just a lad at a young age of 11 when the tragedy struck that changed Baguio and me forever. I was in grade 6 and only a handful of us from our section were left behind to clean our classroom which was located at the second floor of our school's main building as we were the scheduled cleaners on that particular day. Children as we were, we enjoyed every bit of our tasks like it was only a child's game unmindful that we were the only people left in the entire school and all of the entire school's population had already gone home. At exactly 4:26 in the afternoon we were caught surprised by the first wave of tremor that shook the entire City. It was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake which toppled and made the once proud city fell to its knees. The first wave lasted for about 10 minutes and I am thinking now that those were the longest minutes of my life, our lives. That was the first time I really felt the real meaning of the word frightened and scared. For the past 10 minutes we were just inside our classroom waiting for whatever might befell us. I literally saw how our little classroom sway like a ride in an amusement park for 10 minutes. Most of my classmates were shouting and crying but there's just no words or tears that would come out from my mouth and eyes. Some would say that it was brave of me not to cry or shout but I personally think that I was shocked by what I was witnessing at a very young age. Good Lord I was not prepared for this and neither do my classmates were. All I could think at that time was the situation and welfare of my family. So for the last 10 minutes were just inside our classroom waiting for our doom and then finally, all of a sudden it stopped. Grabbing that precious opportunity, we all hurriedly left our classroom and went straightly to our school open grounds. There on the grounds we we're joined by so many people from the nearby residential houses near our school who, just like us, were also seeking safer place to go. After 30 minutes and countless strong aftershocks I was joined by my family who were also terrified just like me but felt a huge relief after seeing in each other in one piece. At that time, it's true that situations like that nothing or no one is more important than your family and thanks to God that we were reunited and nothing bad happened to each one of us. Baguio was a total wreck after the earthquake. It was reeking of decomposing bodies which were retrieved from the collapsed buildings and were just laid on the roads as funeral parlors have no place for them anymore. There were no food, water, and electricity. Transportation and communication were also cut off. Land slides prevented the use of the three major routes going in and out of the city. Virtually, Baguio was isolated from the rest of the Philippines during that time. It was my first time to live in an evacuation place which is in our school and to fall in line for food ration and relief goods. Whenever we hear of news that an organization like this or that is going to distribute relief goods, we scramble and hurry to be there on time just to get something that we can bring home and share with our families. There were times when some of us would think that we may have not died of being trapped in a collapsed building or buried in a land slide but we will end up dead due to hunger and sickness. But, with God's mercy and grace we, the Baguio people, survived that kind of life for 6 to 8 months. Now, one cannot see the traces and evidence of the great 1990 earthquake that happened some 25 years ago on the city. Slowly, from the ruins of the earthquake Baguio slowly recovered and rose to become a premier tourist destination once again. Many have lost their loved ones and many have suffered and we remembered them with this little tribute. You will forever be in the hearts of your families. To those who sacrificed a lot but never expected anything in return, may the good Lord be the one to reward you. I lost my innocence and suddenly drawn into a life I never imagined would happen during that tragedy but it made me strong as a person and it made our family's bond even more stronger. We survived after 25 years. Note: All pictures used in the blog belongs to it's respective owner and are not personally owned by the blogger.
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