Yesterday, at the office, the fire alarm went off. It was announced 30 minutes earlier that a fire drill will commence and everybody will follow the procedures calmly.

It would’ve been a normal occurence for me, since our building IS old and the summer heat here is rising. But the reason behind it is not normal. It was a precaution against a prediction by a nun that there will be an earthquake ^[1]. An SMS message stating that an earthquake of intensity 9 will happen by 5pm, has been passed to everyone like wildfire. So in the guise of the fire drill, we were made to go out of the 5-story (30-20-year old?) building.

We work in Mandaluyong, but I heard it was a different scenario at Makati. With skyscraper buildings, people were panicking. Okay, of course not all, but some took the warning to heart. Some offices sent off their employees to go home early ^[2]. And all because of this.

By 5pm, nothing happened. But it has been said that there will be more to come within a few days, that could devastate Manila and Quezon City areas ^[3], while Philvolcs rebuffs the whole idea ^[4].

I would be the first to say that I do not know who to believe, and I really wouldn’t want to. Things like this make me paranoid. I know a lot of people in these areas and I’m very much concerned for them right now than I am for my self. So am just praying hard and hopeful that it’s all a joke and it doesn’t happen.