sss-baguio.htm

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....................We the members of the Board of Trustees of SanibLakas ng Taongbayan Foundation, a synergism-oriented non-government organization founded in 1996, salute the people of Baguio for having heroically turned the tragedy that was the killer earthquake of ten years ago into a glorious story of synergy and community spirit, turned grief and fear into a triumph of morale and rising again from the ruins and debris, and picking up their lives and that of this community.
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...................We are going to open new pages in the SanibLakas website dedicated to “synergism success stories” and we will start with “Baguio’s Triumph over a Tragedy.” We are going to launch this within the incoming week, probably on Saturday, July 22. Those of our friends who have information or direct experiences you may want to share are asked to send them to us, as attached Word .doc files to sanib_alam@yahoo.com. The Saniblakas website address is: http://www.saniblakas.faithweb.com

....................We believe that all Baguio residents have a right to this looking back in a spirit of healing and closure and with a sense of pride. And all others have a much to gain in terms of learnings and inspiration from reading all that will be shared.
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.................... SanibLakas Board members (Note: three are former students of St. Louis University; see asterisks): *Ed Aurelio ‘Ding’ Reyes,president; *Marie R. Marciano, vice president; Joydee C.Robledo, Secretary; Romylee Ancheta; Araceli C. Ocampo; *Mila R.‘Sam’ Garcia; Noemi Medina; Ed de Vera; Pinky Serafica; Beth Roxas; and Loloi Gorgonio.

BAGUIO CITY, July 23, 2000 (SanibLakas InfoShare) -- The SanibLakas ng Taongbayan Foundation forged here this morning a partnership with the Mary-
knoll Sisters' Center for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, also known as "Maryknoll Ecological Sanctuary" to team up on the former's project on the synergism success story that was the Baguio people's dramatic rise together from the rubble of the 1990 killer earthquake.
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....................The project was launched last Sunday, July 16, tenth anniversary of the Intensity 7.7 quake that left the city with more than 400 dead, hundreds of injured, collapsed buildings and houses, devoid of electric and water services, and a population gripped in grief, pain, hunger and panic.
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....................In a meeting at her office as director of the ecological sanctuary known for its very-enlightening "Cosmic Journey," Sr. Ann Braudis agreed in principle to the request of SanibLakas Foundation president Ed Aurelio "Ding" Reyes that the Center's administration become the foundation's main Baguio-based partner for the project. Both sides agreed to work out details of the partnership later. Sr. Ann was accompanied in the meeting by Mary-Jane Foy-os, the Center's administrator.
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....................Aside from Reyes, the SanibLakas group that came to Baguio mainly for the "Cosmic Journey" experience was composed of Marie Marciano, vice president; Joydee C. Robledo, board secretary; Board of Trustees members Beth Roxas and Pinky Serafica; cinema artists Roy Alvarez and Chin-Chin Gutierrez who are both officers of SALIKA, the "citizens' green force" being built by SanibLakas; and painter Marz Z., founding head of the Sanibkulay Visual Arts Group who also heads the foundation's broad "Sanib-Sining Movement" project.
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...................SanibLakas has already mounted a page for this project in the foundation's main website, with address "http://sanibalakas.faithweb.com". The
Maryknoll sisters decided to phase out its grade school in this city and to build the ecological sanctuary in its place after the 1990 quake. It converted the school's auditorium into a permanent exhibit of the post-earthquake scenes, an
installation art put up by Baguio's videomaker and all-rounded artist Eric de Guia, who is more widely known by his self-chosen name, "Kidlat Tahimik." ---###

By Cesar D. Liporada
Officer of UNDP-Manila, Book Author,
and a Resident then of Baguio City

THE EARTHQUAKE
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BAGUIO CITY, July 16, 1990, 4:00 p.m., Daylight Saving Time --- It was a typically-busy day for Baguio. Students were in the classrooms, the wage-earners and businesspersons were in their offices or in malls making transactions. Jeepneys and other vehicles plied their routes. Pedestrians were all over downtown streets. It was an ordinary afternoon, people busy with their respective affairs.
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.....................Up to about 4:00 p.m., Daylight Saving Time, it was still a typically-busy day for Baguio. Students were in the classrooms, the wage-earners and businesspersons were in their offices or in malls making transactions. Jeepneys and other vehicles plied their routes. Pedestrians were all over downtown streets. It was an ordinary afternoon, people busy with their respective affairs.
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.....................At 4:15 p.m., a rumbling sound coming from the earth thundered, then the earth shook and trembled as never before. All buildings, trees and anything standing swayed to and fro like upside-down pendulums. Roads cracked up and buildings collapsed.
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.....................Horrified pedestrians panicked and scampered to "safety". They clung to the nearest posts, sat down or lay flat on the ground. Pandemonium broke loose in the classrooms, hotels and houses. The people rushed out to the open in veritable stampedes, trampling upon one another. The more desperate ones jumped from the higher floors to the ground.
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.....................It was survival that was on everyone's mind. Moving vehicles uncontrollably rammed, and were even crushed, into one another or into other obstructions. There were shouts and cries of desperation, of buildings crashing down, glass shattering and glass falling.
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.....................Then the quake stopped after 25 seconds,. But the sky turned dark. Heaven's downpour followed the earth's wrath . The intermittent aftershocks continued to sow fear.

.....................Soaked and shivering, the people huddled in a state of shock and confusion. Moans and shoicks from within collapsed buildings echoed in different parts of the city. Pools of blood drying up with mud were everywhere. The people felt and saw the destruction of their city, somehow knowing it was not yet over

RELIEF AND REHAB
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THE EARTHQUAKE left more than 1,700 dead all over Northern and Central Luzon. In Baguio, 500 were killed and thousands more were injured or rendered homeless and hungry. The dead were placed in makeshift coffins and cadaver bags to prevent the outbreak of disease.
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.....................Because the stench of decaying bodies was strong, the unclaimed and unrecognized were buried in shallow graves, Later, they would be given appropriate burial by relatives.
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.....................The makeshift tents in the three hospitals -- Sacred Heart, Notre Dame and Baguio General -- were swarmed by the injured and the sick, together with their families. Even the hallway of Baguio General had to be used because of the sheer number of patients needing immediate attention. In each hospital, the agony, the pain and the deep sense of loss could be felt. It hounded everyone.
Most casualties came from the collapse of the Nevada Hotel, the Hyatt Terraces and the University of Baguio. Scores were instantly killed or trapped within the rubbles of the three. Rescue operations continued, with miners, cadets and able-bodied citizens lifting the huge boulders, boring tunnels and passageways toward the victims, hoping that more lives could still be saved.
On the 15th day after the quake, the last trapped persons still alive were taken out of the Hyatt Terraces. The others were taken out only to be brought to their graves.
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.....................Their fears kept alive by the aftershocks, most people slept and stayed in makesghift dwellings fronting their homes. Those without any place to stay -- and there were hundreds of them -- made the football grounds of Burnham Park a sprawling camping ground. Everywhere was desolation.
Centers of relief operations were set up in clusters of barangays. At regular intervals, the locals lined up to get their supply of food, medicine and other essentials. It was expected that relief operations would go on for two more months.
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.....................The water coming from the faucets were dirty. There was no electricity. The gateways to Baguio -- Kennon and Naguillan Roads -- were cut by landslides and repair work took time as rains continued to pour. The city was wet, muddy and in disarray
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[Excerpted from Cesar D. Liporada's book, Days in My Life (MANILA: CDL Publications, 1999).]

WALONG TAON na ang nakalilipas mula noong Hulyo 16, 1990, nang ang mga syudad ng Baguio, Dagfupan at Cabanatuan sa Hilaga at Gitnang Luzon ay salantahin ng isang matinding lindol, at magkawasak-wasak di lamasng ang mga gusali, kalye't tahanan kundi ang buhay-buhay ng mga tao roon.

..................... Napakarami ang mga kuwento ukol sa mga kaganapan sa tatlong syudad na nabanggit mula noong maganap ang intensity-7.7 na pagyanig. Mga pamilyang namatayan, nagkawalaan, at nagkahiwa-hiwalay. Naghalu-halo ang dalamhati sa namatay at masasal na kaba sa mga mahal sa buhay na di agad nakita. Mga minero na nagboluntaryiong isugal ang sarili nilang buhay upang makapagligtas ng ibang buhay. Mga taong sinakmal ng walang-patid na bangungot, halos himatayin sa takot tuwing yumayanig muli ang lupa (aftershocks) at tuwing inaakala nilang mayroion muling pagyanig. Mga taong sinakmal ng matinding gutom -- sira ang kabuhayan at walang pambili ng pagkain, o kaya'y walang mabili kahit mayroon pambili. Marami ring panalangin ang ibinulong at iniluha.

..................... Walong taon matapos ang dambuhalang lindol na iyon, natutunan na kaya ang lahat ng dapat matutunan upang iwasan ang ganoon kalaking kapinsalaan? Ang laki ng pinsala ay may dalawang pangunahing pinagmumulan -- puwersa ng kalikasan at ang gawa ng tao.
Ang lindol ay maaaring mapaaga o mapatindi ng gawa ng tao, gaya ng gma dambuhalang dam. Pinag-aaralan pa ngayon kung sa lindol ng 1990 ay may kinalaman ang mga dam na baka nagdulot daw ng "wet friction" sa mga lamat sa lupa o faultlines. Bukod dito, ang epekto ng lindol sa Baguio ay malamang na napasahol sa dami ng mga lungga doon ng industriya ng pagmimina, na nakapagpahina sa tatag ng lupa sa ilalim ng nasabing syudad. Bahagi rin ang hilig ng gma tao na na gumawa ng napakaytataas na mga gusali, nang hindi nakabatay sa maingat na pagtatantiya sa tibay ng lupang pinagtatayuan ng mga ito.

.....................Hindui man mapipigilan ang mga kalamidad mula sa galaw ng kalikasan, makapagpapaliit naman ng pinsalka ang pagkakaroon ng nakahandang mga sistema para sa mabiulis na pagsagip ng buhay, pag-agap sa suplay ng pagkain at tubig, sapat na serbisyong medikal, at tuluy-tuloy na serbisyong pribado at pampubliko.

.....................May napakahalagang aral na ibninandila ang kareanasan sa Lindol ng 1990. Buhay na buhay pa rin angf diwa ng bayanihan, ang kahandaang magsanib-lakas upang sama-samang humarap sa kalamidad at pagkatapos ay magbangon ang buu-buong komunidad. Kasama ito sa mgha kuwento. Kasama ito sa inspirasyon naiiwan ng ganoong mga kaganapan sa kasaysayan ng ating bayan.

BonggaStar Editorial of July 16, 1998, written jointly by Ed Aurelio Reyes and Joydee Robledo of the SanibLakas Management Team who were then also the Opinion-Editorial (OP-ED) Team of the SunStar News Service which was also serving the BonggaStar bilingual daily tabloid.

...................I second the motion. I personally salute the Baguio people, including me, since I was there when the earthquake happened. I was inside one building that collapsed and I know what it means to be re-born again and to struggle to forget the horror of an earthquake. Thank God for a second life. To all my "classmates" in the incident, Happy 10th Birthday to all of us!

Prof. Rose Tapang-Feliciano
UP College of Mass Communication
<rosef@cmc.upd.edu.ph>

...................I am so happy to receive e-mails from SanibLakas. I was a resident of Baguio City and actually grew up there. I have special memories of this place specially the tragic earthquake that struck us in 1990. I am trying to make a personal composition of my own story about the earthquake. For now I am finalizing it. I might send it to you anytime next week since I'll be in Los Angeles this weekend. If you would like to know more about me, I have a personal website you might like to visit. Just click on the link below:

I am also part of a listing in the web named "Baguioweb" where most of the subscribers have special experiences or even roots to this amazing place in the Philippines. I, for one, am proud to be brought up and raised here. Well, I am looking forward to hear from you soon. Take care and more power to SanibLakas.

Anna Louise Quinto-Galia
annalouise08@yahoo.com
http://www.galia.org/annalouise/
Hayward, California

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