u/Prestigious_Fun_3824

Gutter deep ang tubig baha dito as 9:28 AM. Wear boots para iwas sa leptospirosis. Take extra care kabaleyans.

I was 4years and 10 months old when the earthquake happened in 16 July 1990. We were studying in Baguio City back then. I could recall it rained with hail(squash seed-like size) Sunday afternoon before the Earthquake (15July1990) while we are playing at the old Camp John Hay kiddie golf course near the club house.

Back then my mom was pregnant with my youngest brother. Great thing my pregnant mom and my little sister travelled back in the morning to the lowlands since it is already a Monday where our family business and permanent resident is.

Monday afternoon, we were already attending our Chinese classes. Our classes will only need less than an hour to finish when the devastating and shocking earthquake hit Baguio City. It was my first earthquake as a 4-year old child in school uniform away from our parents. My sibling and I shared the same preschool section in our Chinese classes department (3:30 to 5:30 PM).

We had to do the standard way of going under the preschool tables. But we couldn't take the strong Earthquake anymore. Our classroom is situated in the 2nd storey of a 6-storey Chinese School along Harrison Road. So if we do not go out of the school, there is a high chance of not getting out alive. Our school is huge! (Inset of the school photo, far right in beige/ecru paint).

When we went out of the school building we had to rush to cross the Harrison Road towards the Melvin Jones' Grandstand! It was like an action-thriller movie that we were running out of a place to run into.

The flower boxes at the Melvin Jones' Grandstand eroded with us to the ground as the earthquake shakened.

The hotel which is a building away from our school has collapsed already from top to ground! (See picture collapsed building in the middle)

We were able to meet our guardians while a kind-hearted mother shed me and my sibling in her umbrella because it rained so hard after the earthquake!

We were crying so hard out of trauma and shock. We stayed at the Burnham for almost a week. Where it felt like we were in a huge ship every time there is an aftershock. We had to sleep in woven banig in the streets just to survive the cold nights with so much fear and worries as innocent children. We learned how to make use of the rubber tree skin in Burnham Park for bonfire to ease the cold wind at night. Public toilets. Groceries were all empty. Some scavenged due to panick and survival.

After days of staying in the streets of Burnham Park. We had to walk to the Naguillan Road so we can go back home to our parents. It took us 14 kms. walk to reach the huge rock with just one rope bridging from end to end. We were assisted by our uncles who rescued us from Baguio City all walking up to the zigzag road from La Union.

It was the most traumatic event of our lives to date. It made us stronger. God is good. We experienced the wrath of heavens at an early age.

Credits to the rightful owner of the photo

Sharing this. Napangiti ako nang slight nung nabasa ko. 😅

Ung inaya ka. Tapos oo kaagad sagot mo. Then habang nasa byahe, tsaka nya sinabing masamang alaala.

Ito yata ang mag uumpisa ng sakit ng ulo ng taong bayan.

Pilit na pilit eh!