Baguio City: Remembering July 16, 1990 Earthquake

Figure  1  Damaged structures with the Baguio Cathedral at the background.   Image taken from http://www.cityofpines.com/baguioquake/quake.html.

It’s just a few days and July 16 is here. Why this date is very important? Because it’s the day when a killer earthquake devastated our place Baguio city. I was still in college at that time. The memory of it is coming back to my mind each time the month of July is near until this date is finished. I had no intention to write down about the day, but when yesterday a 6.6 quake happened in Leyte, some of the pictures in the television are just like the pictures I saw in the TVs in 1990.

However, it was not the destroyed buildings that’s always coming back into my memory but the fearful sound that accompanied the quake and the different reactions of people I saw during the disaster stuck in my mind.

1) It rained then the ground shook. I was at Dangwa Bus station when the first quake happened. I went there to see if I could find a friend but there was none. It was sunny but it rained for maybe about 10-15 minutes. When the rain stopped, and, since I didn’t find even one familiar face, I started to walk to go home when felt as if I was losing my balance. I stood still and knew it was earthquake. The world was really swaying. I thought and guessed the magnitude must be around number 8 comparing it to previous quakes I experienced which was at magnitude 4.2 – 5 in the Richter scale. 

2) The Hilltop Hotel collapsed. I casually walked to the Rabbit Bus Station along Magsaysay avenue where the jeepneys traveling to La Trinidad were parking. I was sitting at the front and waiting for other passengers to fill up the backside of the jeep when one young lady came in and sat next to me. As soon as she settled she started talking and telling about her recent experience and what she saw happened when the quake struck – I sensed worry and fear in her voice.

Figure  2   Baguio Public Market with collapsed Hilltop Hotel at the background.  Image taken from http://www.cityofpines.com/baguioquake/quake.html.

She said she saw the Hilltop Hotel collapsed downwards and said people might have died. I said we will know it by the following day or in the evening news. She was telling me about she was buying a tray of egg in front of the New Tiongsan Grocery when it suddenly shook. She was saying “I, I, I, …. was holding the tray of egg when it quaked. I panicked so I dropped the tray of egg and when I looked at the direction of the Public Market I saw the Hilltop Hotel suddenly collapsed. OH, my… I think some people may have crushed beneath and died…” she had not yet finished talking when all of a sudden the jeepney started rocking. The lady nervously jump out of the jeep and I saw her ran away. The driver who was sitting next to me also jumped out, and all the other passengers behind us hurriedly went out. I was not supposed to get out but the quake seemed to don’t stop and what made me anxious was the sound of rolling stones. So, I also hurriedly step out of the jeep. I was afraid the earth might just open up! Whew!

When the second jolt was taking place, I believed everyone’s heart beat faster than usual because of the scary sounds of rolling stones beneath the ground. One wondered if “Is it the end of the world?”

3) Shouting lady from one of the disco pubs. When the second jolt happened, everyone went out in the street. I saw confusion, fear, worries in the faces of the people as the shaking seemed to have no end. As I was standing at the side of the street of Magsaysay avenue facing P. Burgos street I noticed a woman running and shouting out from the one of the disco pubs wearing a unbuttoned long-sleeve shirt and just an underwear/panty. When she was out hysterically, about three men followed her outside. And as the woman reach the side of P. Burgos street she collapsed but before she completely fell on the ground one of the men was able to catch her body. The other two men then helped to hold her on the legs and at the lumbar while the first man held the woman on her shoulder side. The three men then carried the unconscious woman hurriedly inside the building.

4) Old lady arranging back her vegetables in place for sale. After the strong jolt, a series of still strong aftershocks followed immediately. I remembered my cousin and a close friend who were tending dry-goods at Hilltop or known as Baguio Public Market. So, I decided to go and see if they need help. The streets were full of people walking back and forth, some shouting and calling names – it was a real chaos. When I was going up to Hilltop from Magsaysay avenue I saw an old lady(probably 60-65 years old) sitting calmly at the roadside selling cucumbers. She attracted my attention because while everyone was running or nervous of the continuous aftershock, she was there sitting like all things are okay. I slowed down my steps and fixed my eyes on her, then I stopped to watch her. Because every time the earth shook some of her cucumbers roll down to the pavement of the road but she immediately pick them up, sit down on her low stool and carefully put the cucumbers she picked up on top of the other cucumbers which were neatly arranged on top of each other being displayed for sale. After carefully placing her cucumbers on top of each other she rests her left elbow on her knees while her left palm carries her chin. While on that position she looks down on the cucumber quietly. Then about a minute or 2 the earth shook again and as if trying its best to let the cucumbers roll down to the street. However, the lady was quick enough to pick the any cucumber that rolled down from there arrangement and the process was repeated again. The incident must have happened three more times then I hurriedly walked again.

Now I am always thinking what happened to the lady and her cucumber. She was so optimistic things get to normal soon. Probably thinking that earthquakes before did not last longer than one tremor, only, that time was a different story.



5) Six kilometers walk from Baguio City to Km. 6 La Trinidad. When I went to Hilltop, only my friend who was still busy putting away her goods. After helping her we started to walk home as there were no passenger jeepney available. The ones running were overloaded and people like us who were not lucky had no choice but walk.

As we were walking down Magsaysay Avenue we saw a woman who was probably in her mid-30s running up and down calling the name of her child who must have lost from the throng of people walking up the street and going down.

And further down, as we were approaching Baguio Central High School, we saw a heap of slippers and shoes placed in the middle of the street. I was wondering if somebody made it a purpose to collect the slippers and piled it there. I guessed there were thousand single pares of slippers left by people who got shocked and didn’t mind running without one of their slippers or shoes.

And when we reach the middle of Km3 in La Trinidad(where the houses are painted by a group of artists and being visited by tourists these days) we saw in the side of the street a car with a boulder on top wrecking it. We don’t know if the passenger or passengers were safe as there was some traces of blood.

6) A stronger quake coming. When we reached home, I decided to go to the ground of BSU(Benguet Estate University) to see people I know if they’re alright. When I saw them, I saw fear they were scared. I tried to calm them down by telling stories about what transpired about me during the first and second major quake. Then they told me that some people heard from the radio that a stronger one is coming. “What?” I said. I calmed them down by saying or assuring them the world has no way or has no technology to foretell exactly when a quake is going to occur.

7) Our home was safe. Many people if not most were so afraid to sleep inside their homes because of the almost every 15-30 minutes gap of aftershocks. Every time the earth shake people hurrying to run outside their homes. And while they do that, I stayed calm the best I could because I know that the house of my aunt where I was staying was very safe. It was a little home with three rooms and is made up of wood. My aunt and my cousins were worried the two houses going to collapse. My aunt even was suggesting we also go to the school ground of BSU to be safe. I assured them we are safe.

Well, listening at the feet of the elders really is true. Because the things they said about what to do during disasters is now helping. So, I told my “family” about what I heard from my father and old people that homes made up of wood is safe during an earthquake. Well, unless of course if you have things put above your head that can fall to hit you. And be careful when cooking because fire might happen when a sudden quake happens. So, I made sure all things inside our home are not potential danger.

8) I was saved from possible death. This memory sometimes makes me shudder to my bone. That day was supposed to be a school day but students of the Saint Louis University planned to stage a demonstration in the afternoon, but the school was smart to suspend classes in the afternoon. At one pm in the afternoon, when I passed by the main gate of the school only the handful protesting student sitting in front of the gate. Since there was no classes, I decided to go watch a movie to let the afternoon passed by. Luckily, there was no movie that enticed me to get into the Aurora Theater found in Mabini street. Instead, I went to the city library found at Burnham Park(Located near UC – Cordillera College formerly known as BCF or Baguio Colleges Foundation). Then at 3:30PM I decided to go home.