Earliest Memories #11: Tremors

It was just like any other afternoon. There's not a lot of humidity and despite the day being quite sunny, there was a slight soothing breeze in the air. Tropical weather can be very refreshing and relaxing, given the fact that a lot of times we had to endure storms. I sat there in the living room with my mother and my grand mother. I don't remember quite well why but my mom was in a middle of packing stuff. If I'm not mistaking, we were supposed to leave together. But she has just come back from the capital and maybe she decided to bring me to Manila with her. I'm not really sure anymore. It was a very long time ago and just to still remember this might fascinate both my grand mother and mother.

I was there in the same room with both of them. They were talking about something I could not remember anymore. Chances are I did not entirely understood the nature of their conversation back then and so to even attempt to recall it today is a feat I won't even attempt. I just now my mother was packing and my grand ma was there to talk to her as I minded my own business. I was wearing a sleeveless white tanktop and a pair of green shorts. I think. Or maybe they were khaki? I may have forgotten what I was doing, what they were talking about and what I was wearing. But I'll never forget the moments that happened just shortly after that brief recollection of the past I had as a kid.

(Shaken or stirred things can never be clearly seen and perceived.)

The things around us started shaking. Photo frames were vibrating and the chairs were sort of moving away and towards each other. As soon as it started, I already found myself outside the house holding on to a coconut tree beside my mom and my grand ma. As soon as the tremors began, my mom had grabbed me by the arm and my grand ma along with her to head outside. Their first tendency was to grab onto a tree. And we did have lots of coconut trees in front of my grand parents' house. I remember trying to come back for my slippers because the earthquake caught me off-guard and my mom was quite quick to grab me to go outside. But they didn't let me go back in. It was quite something. I have heard of earthquakes before. After all, I did live in a country situated along the earthquake belt. Earthquakes and tsunamis were reported on TV and I was not oblivious of the fact that they actually existed. But I was yet to experience such a magnificent occurrence. The roaring sound it made as it slowly started was quite something as well. And the sound of the quake was just unreal, I have not heard of anything like it. It was just unreal. It was almost like I was in a movie. The movement of things were not so apparent to me outside. But I the objects inside the house moving so much as they start falling or just displacing themselves were a sight to behold.

In the end, it was reported to be a 7.0+ on the Richter scale. I don't quite know what kind of damage it did to cities and other things outside of the town I lived in at the time. But I do know there were some cracks on the roads and even on the dryer (large body of cemented ground mainly used to dry rice grains) that my grand father owned. I was just so amazed but scared at the same time. But it wasn't anything too frightening. In fact, I was quite amazed and found it to be quite exciting to experience an actual Earthquake. But then again, I was young. I did not know much of the hazards and dangers of what natural calamities like that could bring. Up to this day, I remember that one sunny afternoon.