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| QUEZON CITY, Philippines (UCAN) -- The chancellor of the northern Philippine prelature of Batanes says his people are "very thankful" no tsunami ensued after two strong tremors rocked their islands on the second anniversary of the killer tsunami in the Indian Ocean region. "The first tremor measured 5.8 (on the Richter scale) and the second was 6," Father Robert Young told UCA News by telephone from Basco, the capital town of Batanes, the northernmost Philippine province, across the Bashi Channel from Taiwan. The province comprises several small islands. The priest was in his residence at San Carlos Borromeo Parish in Mahatao when the ground shook, first around 8:20 p.m. and then about 10 minutes later. "Each (tremor) lasted almost a minute," Father Young recounted. Mahatao and Basco are both on Batan, a main island. The tremors reportedly were linked to the earthquake that night whose epicenter media reported to be off the southwestern coast of Taiwan. Father Young said the ground in Batanes has been still since then. "Right now, people are very thankful that they are safe." The chancellor said people took extraordinary precautions, since the earthquake occurred on the second anniversary of the tsunami, also produced by an undersea quake, that claimed an estimated 230,000 lives along coastlines from Indonesia's Aceh province and Thailand to eastern Africa. In Mahatao, just after midnight of Dec. 26, local government workers went around town ringing hand bells normally used for emergencies. "At other times, we use church bells, but this time, there was no time to come to the church," Father Young said. As the tinkling echoed in the valley with ambulance sirens in the background, the priest continued, neighbors called out to one another to go to the town plaza just outside the church. There, local officials warned the crowd of the possibility of a tsunami and urged people living near the sea to move to higher areas. Mahatao faces the China Sea. "People went back to their homes and those in coastal communities locked up their homes, took their animals to higher places then brought their blankets, change of clothes and sleeping things to houses of friends and relatives," Father Young said. The people returned in the morning after it was announced over local television news that there was no more danger, he reported. The priest was most concerned about Hañib community in his parish because it is built along the coast, on reclaimed land. The community spirit, along with the spontaneous response to help others, impressed him. "It was past midnight and neighbors hauled other people's boats to park them here in front of the church, and brought animals here and there." Batanes prelature serves the province of Batanes. More than 88 percent of its 16,467 people are Catholics, according to the 2006 Catholic Directory of the Philippines. Father Young told UCA News on Dec. 28 that people in his parish were "calm." He added that they "are more afraid of earthquakes than typhoons," after many homes built to withstand typhoons collapsed during an earthquake in the 1980s. Local houses are typically built of stone and brick, close to the ground, with thick cogon grass roofing to withstand strong typhoons that commonly occur between July and October. On July 16, 2000, the façade of the Batanes cathedral collapsed during an earthquake. Waves of a tsunami on April 25, 1987, hit Mahatao and Ivana towns hardest, but the damage was largely to property destroyed by debris from the sea or loss of pigs and animals. Father Young said the people had been warned early enough, before the waves swept over the land. |
| Northernmost prelature 'thankful' after tremors fail to produce Tsunami ___________________ |
| UCA News December 28, 2006 |
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