Disaster Strikes The Archipelago

Natural disasters strike humanity and other living creatures on the planet with regular alacrity. Every major disaster leaves behind a trail of heavy loss of human lives, flora and fauna, and also causes irreparable damage to infrastructure and properties. Every developed country’s administration is well trained to cope with any natural disaster but when something happens without any warning and wreaks havoc, it becomes a herculean task to mitigate the damage done to human lives and their belongings.

An earth quake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale struck Mindanao on June 14, 2009, as per the report of United States Geological Survey (USGS) but, according to the local officials, there was no report of any damage or loss of human lives and they did not foresee any. Mindanao, is the southern tip of the Philippines, and is the second largest island group in the archipelago and an environmentalist’s heaven on earth. The epicenter of the quake happened to be 150 km east-southeast of General Santos city and measured a depth of 75.6 km, according to USGS. The quake started from under the sea and in all probability would not cause any harm, according to a statement released by Renato U. Solidum, Junior Director at the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. The seriousness of the quake recorded was 2 in Davao and General Santos.

Years ago, in a shattering earth quake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale that occurred in July 1990, in Northern Luzon, approximately 1,600 lives were lost and properties worth billions of pesos as also other infrastructural assets were devastated. This was the biggest earth quake in the recent past.