Metro Manila Divided into Four?

     Geologists say that if a strong earthquake hits Metro Manila, it could divide the Metro into four parts. Since there are 2 Major Fault lines located in Metro Manila namely; the West Valley Fault and the East Valley Fault of the Marikina Fault System which have been dormant for more than 200 years, scientists say a large and powerful earthquake is inevitable. A 7.2 or higher may kill more than 35,000 people and injure up to 120,000 more due to the highly urbanized area and to the numerous multistory buildings found in the Metropolis. More than 3 million people have to be relocated or to be evacuated from danger zones.

     The scientists were particularly concerned with the West and East Marikina Valley Faults since it has been storing energy for more than 200 years that it will result in a very strong and destructive seismic activity that will devastate most of Metro Manila. Experts say liquefaction of the soil, extreme damage to buildings as well as fires erupting all over the various cities is to be expected. They said the Metropolis could be divided into four parts once the "Big One" hits. The entire Search and Rescue Teams, Police and Military as well as the Fire Department of the whole country will be overwhelmed by the enormous damage and massive number of victims. A real scary "Doomsday" scenario!

     A really terrifying prediction I must admit, remember the last 9.0 earthquake that hit Japan? Wow! That's a big one and Japan is known to have built their infrastructure to withstand such destructive tremors but still most of their buildings and infrastructures were damaged. Tsunamis are also a scary phenomenon it is also very devastating. It was the Tsunami generated by the strong quake that killed thousands in Japan and not the quake itself. The Japanese Government was well prepared but still they were overwhelmed by the disaster!

     I hope that the strong quake being predicted by the Geologists in our country would never happen but that is wishful thinking. It is an inevitable event and it's only a matter of time when it will strike. If it does hit and causes so much damage and casualty as predicted by the scientists.....May God help us because it will be a real catastrophic event!