i feel the earth move under my feet/ghosts
Monday, October 23, 2006700 aftershocks recorded since Friday
The Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Monday said it has recorded 700 aftershocks after a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook Mindoro province on Friday.
PHIVOLCS Director Renato Solidum said the tremors were caused by movement on the Lubang Fault. He said more aftershocks could be felt in Marinduque, Mindoro and southern Batangas.
"The public should not be scared about the earthquakes because these are less than magnitude 6, mostly magnitude 5 or less, which cannot destroy buildings," he told Magandang Umaga Pilipinas.
He said the tremors are decreasing.
On Friday and Saturday Metro Manila and Southern Luzon were rocked by four earthquakes and three minor aftershocks.
PHIVOLCS recorded a 5.2 magnitude earthquake, with the epicenter located offshore between Mindoro province and Boac, Marinduque.
Seismologists said that the tremor was felt strongest at intensity 5 in Marinduque, Naujuan in Mindoro Oriental, Batangas City, and Bauan in Batangas, on Friday night. They said that an intensity 4 quake jolted Manila, Lipa City in Batangas and San Pablo City in Laguna.
An intensity 3 quake shook Makati City, Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, Talisay in Batangas and Lucban, Quezon, while an intensity 2 tremor was felt in Quezon City, Tagaytay City and Guinayangan in Quezon province, PHIVOLCS added.
On Saturday dawn, seismologists said they recorded three minor aftershocks.
A fifth earthquake was also felt Sunday in Metro Manila and southern Luzon. PHIVOLCS recorded a 3.7 magnitude earth at 2:23 a.m. with the epicenter located 31 kilometers southeast of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.
The tremor was felt strongest at intensity 3 in Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro, and the cities of Makati and Taguig in Metro Manila. An intensity 2 quake also jolted Quezon City.
The Philippines is part of the "Ring of Fire" of volcanic islands along the western rim of the Pacific Ocean that sit on unstable earth plates and are prone to earthquakes.
Although about 10 quakes hit the Philippines every day, few are felt. Only three major, destructive tremors have been recorded in more than 30 years.
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so it wasn't only 3 or 5 times. it was more than 700 freaking times.
i remember one time that i was asleep in bed when i felt the ground shaking and the glass doors of my bookcase were shaking as well. i leapt out of bed, woke up my family members, and ran out into the street in my sleepwear and no slippers. that was in 1999, i think, because i was still in law school.
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don't look now, but i think there's a ghost in my room. or ghosts. or whatever.
i've felt it (or them) sitting on my bed more than once already. it's like, i'm lying on my side, facing my side table, then i feel the bed sinking beside me, as if someone just sat there or lay down beside me. and this happens at all hours of the day, not just at midnight or 2am. it happened once at around 4pm, while i was taking my nap.
when i was still reviewing for the bar, i used to keep late hours, and i sometimes slept at 3am. during the time i was reading, i only kept my desk lamp turned on so i can concentrate. i also kept the radio turned on, playing softly, since i cannot study in complete silence. then i would feel a presence behind me, like someone (or something) just walked or whizzed by. no shadows, just a presence. or presences. this happened more than once.
at first i was a bit scared, but then i got used to it, ever since i moved into that room almost a year ago. my brother used to sleep in that room before he left for the states, and he also has felt presences, and one time he even woke up in the middle of the night because he heard, or thought he heard, someone whispering his name. he couldn't sleep in his room for days after that time, so our helper at that time made up a story that it was she who was calling his name from the window.
when the room was vacated it was used as a guest room. my lola, before she died, slept in that room whenever she came to manila. she was lying on the bed before she got up to go to the bathroom, and had a stroke which claimed her life.
i'm not scared anymore, because i know it's lola who's watching over me, especially since she knows my penchant for staying up late all the time. and if there is more than one entity there, then it must be lola, her husband, and good angels and white spirits who guard us our house every day and every night.
visitors to our house, especially our boyfriends/suitors/male friends have often told us that they felt an unseen presence watching them. i tell them those are the guardians of the house, the good spirits who make sure that nothing bad happens to us.
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Currently reading: the well of lost plots
Currently feeling: sleepy
