‘… I ask: if the Myanmar earthquake was an ‘act of God’, which God are we talking about?’
THAT magnitude 7.7 earthquake that hit Mandalay, Myanmar five days ago was a killer.
In terms of magnitude, it was as powerful as the 1990 earthquake that almost leveled the city of Baguio, which was also a 7.7 tremor. But the Baguio quake lasted for about 45 seconds; the Myanmar quake lasted for 80. And that’s why in the videos that spread on social media, you’ll notice wave after wave of quakes that jolted buildings, people and furniture. You’ll even see it in the water of swimming pools caught on camera as they swayed several times, lashing the sides of the pools like mini tsunamis.
And because the areas hit by the quake – from Bagan in Myanmar to Bangkok in Thailand – are not used to quakes, the panic and the devastation were unprecedented. It was amusing actually for reporters to say that Bangkok suffered “only superficial damage” other than that one skyscraper under construction that collapsed – when it was also very clear from videos of condo residents that so many buildings in Bangkok may have to be given a thorough once over by government structural engineers to determine whether they should in fact be declared unsafe and torn down.
Because earthquakes in Bangkok are as rare as white ravens, I wouldn’t be surprised if their building code isn’t as demanding as those in the major urban centers of the Philippines. And that’s a big problem now, given the fact that Bangkok and Manila have many similarities – both are cities crisscrossed by rivers and esteros and I will hazard a guess that Bangkok’s foundations are like Manila’s, prone to liquefaction if a major earthquake hits.
The good thing is that this earthquake will be a major eye-opener that will require a review of construction regulations in Bangkok and all over Thailand; the bad thing is that so many high rises will have to be inspected from basement to penthouse and I’m betting a number will have to be torn down. People are going to end up losing their investments.
Will insurance cover the loss? Or will insurance companies claim this as an “act of God”? But then, if they do, maybe it will have to be asked – which God?
There was news footage of devotees praying in a mosque in Myanmar, and the next image shows a collapsed mosque, but because the reportage was not in English, it was unclear if they were the same buildings. There was also footage of Buddhist temples tottering and then collapsing as they shook.
Whether in Thailand or Myanmar footages of the quake would have audio recordings of people calling out to God, including a Filipino family that had to scamper out of their unit and down to the ground level of the building in which they lived as the tremors began to cause cracks to appear on their unit’s walls.
Indeed, when man finds himself in danger, or in an unknown situation that appears to give rise to risk to life and limb, he calls out to God for help. Because God exists to provide the answers (or at least some guidance and comfort) when you and I feel powerless and helpless and even hopeless, when it’s desperation time and then the only superhero we call out to is God.
But are we calling to the “right” God? Was it the Christian God who had something to do with the Myanmar quake? Or was it Buddha? Or was it one of so many gods in the Hindu belief system? Or was it God, as appreciated by our Muslim brothers?
(If it were the Catholic God, maybe insurance companies could run after Caritas? Hehe.)
Or, could it be that it’s all just the same God (no matter how blasphemous this may sound) except that we are all like the blind men around the elephant, each touching a different part of the regal lord of the jungle and each one going away convinced that he had the right appreciation of who the elephant is (or in hence of religion, of God) based simply on what part of the big animal he came into contact with.
So again, I ask: if the Myanmar earthquake was an “act of God”, which God are we talking about?
