Sunday, February 28, 2010

I was barely awake at 2:30 A.M. Saturday, February 27, when I had to drive my son to a bus station somewhere in New York, Cubao. He and his classmates together with some teachers are on their way to Baler, Aurora as their final outdoor recreation activity for a subject. They have been to Tagaytay,Banahaw and Subic on so many weekends as required by the subject. The class is all about outdoor stuff- survival and roughing it up - which I highly doubt they were doing for everyone have had spanking good times based on the pictures I saw in FB accounts that I had no business browsing. But that's another story.

So 2:30 A.M.on a Saturday is not really that traffic-free. There were a lot of cars (with some zigzagging about) and big delivery trucks plying EDSA. I was sleepy and grumpy for I told my son that I have bad vibes about this Baler, Aurora trip. My son said I am paranoid.

I dropped my son off the bus station and went home. It was past 4:00 A.M. and that meant I was up for 22 straight hours already. I decided to sleep. I woke up at 8:30 and went about my daily routine. I checked with my son every now and then but he never answered my call or texted back which was actually typical of my son.

At 12:30 P.M. an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.3 hit Chile. I didn't know about this until about 9:00 P.M when the meeting I hosted in my house was over. D2 was the one who told me about the earthquake and the possible tsunami at its wake.

"What body of water is Chile facing?" I asked.

"Pacific Ocean" said D2. " A tsunami alert has been raised and the Philippines is included."

The blood swelled up my face for I realized that my son was somewhere in the Philippine sea (Pacific Ocean side) snorkling or wakeboarding. I called my son up (he answered the mobile phone!) and told him to pack is bag up and proceed to the nearest bus station -which he can't do for there was no ride out of the beach front cottages where they were staying. I texted his teacher 3 times but he did not reply! Creep!

By 11:30 P.M. I knew that the expected tsunami will hit Philippine shore by 1:30 P.M., Sunday. I slept fitfully. I woke up 7:00 A.M. and immediately called up my son. The teacher was still dilly-dallying with his decision. The earth could have swallowed him up full and he still could no make the decision. I texted my son that it's not for his teacher to make the call regarding his safety. I ordered him to go home for even if the alert had passed, they still can't go in the water because of undertow. My son said another option was for them to go to higher ground (Ermita Hill) which is actually where the populace of Baler go in times of tsunami alerts. I texted "go" which meant "go on ahead to Ermita Hill" but he misunderstood it. The next time he texted he said some 13 of them including another teacher were on their way home.

My son reached his apartment safe and sound. He said those who remained in Baler were having a great time and that there was no tsunami. I told my son that in 1960, an earthquake hit Chile and the tsunami that radiated from the epicenter reached the Philippine soil killing 32 people.

"You can always go back to Baler." I told my son. In times like this, it's better to be safe than sorry."
Posted by desperateblogger On 2/28/2010 10:16:00 PM 4 comments

4 comments:

  1. Tama ka dyan...better safe than sorry.

    Howdy? Para atang nawawala ka ah? Nasabunutan mo na ba yung 'dagang mahaba ang buhok'? hehehe...

    Huling

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ huling: kelangan ng pusa para sa daga. busy lang ako sa mga racket ko pero i'm online everyday.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hay kids think they know better than their Moms. In a few years, I'll be struggling with a similar situation with Peaches na :)

    Great to be back here!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ renz: hi! long time no hear! hope you're fine. hugs to peaches.

    ReplyDelete

Blog Widget by LinkWithin
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin
  • Youtube

Labels

Blog Archive

Followers

Grab My Badge

Pinay Mom Blogs

Membership

Powered by FeedBurner

First Commenter Club
PinoyBlogoSphere.com
Mom Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory
Personal - Top Blogs Philippines
Blog Directory
Listed on: Blog Directory
Cavite Province Websites

Copyright

Page copy protected against web site content infringement by Copyscape

    Vistor Locations

    Million Dollar List

    I'm # 608
    Get listed at www.millionbloglist.com

    Alexa Site Rank

    Powered by Blogger.