“When the sea had spent its fury and rolled back to its normal cadence, about 8,000 were dead or missing, while some 10,000 were injured and at least 90,000 were homeless.”
This was how Victor Badillo and Zinnia Astilla, both from the Manila Observatory, described the effects of “the most disastrous tsunami experienced by the Philippines” on Aug. 17, 1976, when a magnitude 7.9 to 8.2 earthquake struck, with its epicenter in Sultan Kudarat.
Their observations gain special significance today, Nov. 5, a day the United Nations has declared as World Tsunami Awareness Day.
“Deaths were caused by drowning. With the collapse of their homes around midnight, the victims found themselves in dark, turbulent waters. This is a case where the waves accomplished more damage as they left,” Badillo and Astilla wrote in their 1978 paper “Moro Gulf Tsunami of 17 August 1976.”
“One father had clung to a tree and his children, in turn, clung to him. When the waves receded, he was all alone. This was a tale that was repeated many times over,” they wrote.
Nash Maulana, Manila Standard’s Mindanao-based reporter, recalled the story told by his friend Dats Maridul, a tsunami survivor who was then living in Lebak, Sultan Kudarat when the disaster struck 43 years ago.
“They saw the water disappear, the shore looking like a cliff. They were surprised to see the water above them, rushing toward them,” Maulana said in Filipino.
Undersecretary Renato Solidum Jr., officer-in-charge of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said all coastal areas in the Philippines can be affected by tsunamis generated mostly by under-the-sea earthquakes, sometimes by submarine landslides or volcanic eruptions.
“When the Moro Gulf tsunami happened more than four decades ago, it took only about two to five minutes after the earthquake for the first wave of tsunami to arrive at the coastline of Sultan Kudarat. In other areas, it took a bit longer,” Solidum told Manila Standard.
The natural signs—shake, drop and roar—have been consistent, Solidum said, referring to the strong shaking of the ground, the drop or sudden change in sea level, and the roaring sound of incoming waves.
The Philippines, as an archipelago located along the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire, is vulnerable to disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis.
“Tsunamis cannot be prevented, but the impacts can be mitigated through community preparedness, timely warnings, and proper action. Local government units must take the lead,” Solidum said.
Years ago, the agency issued a comic book to inform the public about tsunamis. Today, they are launching a tsunami analytics mobile application to mark World Tsunami Awareness Day.
The United Nations declared Nov. 5 as the World Tsunami Awareness Day in honor of a true story from Japan— “Inamura-no-hi” or the burning of the rice sheaves. During an 1854 earthquake, a farmer saw the tide receding, a sign of a looming tsunami, and he set fire to his harvested rice to warn villagers to run to high ground.
“The tsunami app is primarily for local government units. This follows the Hazard Hunter PH app which was made available to all Filipinos in July,” Solidum said.
“Now you don’t have to burn your harvested rice just to raise the alarm. You have all the hazard information on your fingertips with these apps,” he added.
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