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In our country, the Philippines, we encounter frequent natural calamities caused by typhoons, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Our experience when the earthquake of July 16, 1990, with an intensity of 7.6 that struck us, is really unforgettable. The date is memorable because it is our kids' school anniversary and they had the afternoon off. It was in the morning that celebration was held that included games and contests. Towards noon, a question and answer contest was held for students where I commented on the result of an answer. The question was, "What is used to measure the intensity of an earthquake?" The correct answer was the Richter scale. I commented that the Richter is a scale but what truly measures and detects it is a seismograph. Without that instrument, the Richter scale has nothing to measure. It sort of served as a premonition to me.

The earthquake struck around 3 or 4 o'clock that afternoon. My wife and sister, along with our household help, were out doing some groceries. The kids and I were watching TV in the living room. They, three of them, my eldest was seven and only daughter, was youngest at three years of age. Before that, there was unusual activity of cockroaches scampering all over the house. Dogs in our neighborhood were uneasy and doing inexplicable howling. The fighting roosters I was caring for were likewise uneasy in their cages. Fluttering and cackling noisily as if wanting to get out of their cages! All of that made me think it was a simply stupid day for all of these to be happening.

A minute or maybe a couple of minutes before it happened, everything was calm and quiet. First was the TV that went off. Then, the ground started to shake sideways becoming stronger every fraction of a second! We were staying in a rented house on the lower floor, made mostly of lumber. I looked up the ceiling because it could come down on us. In an instant, I gathered all my kids under me and sprawled over them. If anything falls, I would be able to cushion it off. The nightmare was when the sideways shake became an up and down pounding of the ground! There was terrible noise and I could not say if it was the ground or the house making it. If my time awareness recollection is correct, I know the tremor lasted for a minute or more. Also, I would have very little to remember if it was not that long.
When the shaking stopped, I took all my children to the car and drove out from our garage into the open. It was

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