Beyond the numbers

CHEERS TO GMA-7’s 24 Oras, Solar TV’s Solar Network News, and Rappler for providing a more in-depth coverage on the magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Central Visayas last October 15 than is usual in much of the media.

The initial reports of the news programs and of Rappler went beyond the usual disaster coverage  focused on casualties and property damage.

The report on 24 Oras managed to explain what caused the tremor and also addressed the possibility of a tsunami. According to the report, the East Bohol Fault won’t be able to disturb the fault lines of Negros, Masbate, Leyte, and Panay as it is an independent fault in the Visayas. There is also no threat of a tsunami as the fault is positioned on land and not in water.

24 Oras  also explained how each intensity level will affect  people, buildings, and other establishments and pointed out that there is so far no way to predict earthquakes.

Solar Network News and Rappler looked back into the “most devastating” quakes that have hit the country and claimed “the lives of thousands of people.”

Solar Network News recalled how  earthquakes devastated the town of Casiguran in Aurora on August 2 1968, the Moro Gulf on August 17 1976, and Northern Luzon on July 16 1990. It also showed how the people trapped inside the damaged buildings in Baguio City were rescued.

Rappler’s report was an update of their previous post last July. It said that “nearly all the islands” in the country “are prone to” and have experienced earthquakes.

Rappler said the magnitude 8.7 earthquake that occurred in the Celebes Sea area on September 21 1987 was the strongest earthquake that hit the country,  but noted that no earthquake has reached the intensity of the July 1990 tremor.

Rappler also reminded  readers that the country is “flanked” by active subduction zones: the Manila trench and the Philippine trench and that building establishments should be “at least 5 meters away from the faults.”