The One with the Disaster

Disclaimer: This is not a means to participate in a Twitter frenzy of praying for and asking for donations for Japan. It's my small way of making people aware of the disasters around them. This is a grossly serious post and it chronicles my thoughts and feelings about what happened in the midst of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in a country so powerful economically that it could stand to weather almost anything. 

It was an ordinary day in Japan. What could have been another day in an office, or the field was suddenly turned upside-down when the country was hit by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake, centered near the east coast of Japan. The epicenter was in the Miyagi Prefecture, which meant it affected the densely-populated business city of Tokyo. Fishermen were in their busiest deep in the big blue Pacific, trying to get their catch at around 2PM in the afternoon when the quake happened, which means most of them were swept away by huge tsunami that crashed into the inland, badgering the already shaken and stirred people of Japan. 

That's a picture of a man looking at the rubbish in his town, after the quake and the tsunami devastated the city. 

Debris of fallen buildings and other structures amidst sludge and water. 

Massive destruction along public highways, the bridge shown here almost uprooted from the ground. 

Tsunami waves spilling over the streets of Tokyo

And in case you've been desensitized by Hollywood movies about the end of the world, and you think that this is one rich country that need no help, think again.

A female survivor crying in the Iwake prefecture northeast Japan. 

A man cries as he sees a board with names of survivors at a shelter in a village ruined by the earthquake. 

Isolated people in Sendai. 

And in case it hasn't hit you yet, here's a video of the massive punishing power of water over one powerful country. 

Disasters come and tear people's lives apart everyday of their lives. Some have it worse than others. To point to the different disasters in Asia, in February of 2011, there was heavy flooding in Sri Lanka that killed at least 11 people. In the same month, New Zealand experienced a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that caused 166 fatalities. Disasters come at the most unexpected times, times when you just had a conference call or maybe a quick meal, maybe even in the most ungodly hour at night. How prepared are you to lose everything you have? And following that thought, how prepared are you to fight for what you have? 

I was in a cab, ready to head home when I heard the news. Earlier, I was under the impression that the day was just so long and I can't wait to hit the sack. I even thought of listening to my newly-downloaded songs on my iPod before sleeping. It was a normal day. Had it happened to this city - my city - would I have survived? Probably not. 

• While Manila might have been informed of an impending tsunami of massive proportions, poorly-designed streets would have damned me right then and there, in the cab, along with my poor driver, trapping me in water, debris and an abysmal combination of slurry and full-force waves. The locked windows and doors would automatically cave me in, crushing my face, arms and perhaps even my jugular, cutting off any circulation. 
• If the tsunami won't kill me, it would be the fire that would probably start from the massive onslaught of debris and collapsed structures into closely-wound gasoline stations in and around the metro, not to mention the poorly-maintained states of most cabs nowadays. 
• Edifices would have crumbled in minutes, thanks to a force so strong and huge that would crack the heaviest metals and concrete megastructures in the city. The street asphalt would crack and become brittle and might even cave from the enormous pressure of the water and the heavy cars, trucks and other vehicles. A structure could fall right atop my cab and would crush me in seconds, cutting off any type of function in my body. 
• Heavy electric wirings could actually fall right into the water or could be snapped by the massive water, making the water excessively charged. Mix that with metal cars and you have a fried (or baked) me.

I know, that is a morbidly disgusting thought, but I'm wired to think of the worst-case scenario and what would I do. I realized that the best thing to do in the event of an actual disaster is to actually scramble for the highest ground possible. In an earthquake, a tsunami and even a flash flood, my best bet for survival is actually, amazingly climbing the highest peak. Now, getting there could actually kill me too.

Life is a series of paths strewn with thorns and sometimes, an occasional bed of roses. If this happened to you today, would you be prepared to face the consequences of your actions? Would you have lived the life you wanted to live? Would you have fought for everything you've got? Would you be swept away and leave your fate to chance? 

Everyone has a fight in them, everything has a reason and looking at how fragile life is, find the why and endure almost any how. 

All pictures are obtained legally and with links to the original post from Yahoo News. Information obtained from CNN and The Huffington Post. 

Be familiar and be aware of the things happening around you. Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC) has projects geared towards preparing for natural calamities and disasters in and around Asia. 

Help the survivors and the relief operations in Japan and Time was kind enough to summarize it. Check out their newsfeed on how you can help Japanese earthquake and tsunami survivors.