HUNDREDS of Cebuanos in Metro Cebu and the province spent their nights in evacuation centers for fear of a tsunami that never came.
In Cebu, about 200 families from the coastal barangays Kalubihan and Lawis in San Fernando, southern town of Cebu, took shelter at the San Fernando Central School.
Alfonso Donaire IV, president of the Association of Barangay Captains in San Fernando, said the residents asked him if they could stay in the school after they were alarmed by the sight of rising waves and the aftershocks.
“The seawater was already high and the waves were big, we all got scared especially after that tsunami warning was aired in the radio. It is better to find a safer spot,” said Odonil Sasuman, one of the residents.
In the evacuation center, most of the fathers were left awake.
They decided to stay up so if anything happens, they’d be there to alert everyone.
The evacuees chose to sleep outside so they can easily run to the nearest open ground.
More than 400 families are also in the gyms of barangay Cogon-Pardo and Poblacion-Pardo in Cebu City.
Mayor Michael Rama delivered bread to the evacuation centers in barangays San Nicolas and Guadalupe last night.
Virgie Bornia packed her children’s clothes and secured their birth certificates and other important documents in a plastic envelope.
She brought all of it with them when they left their homes.
“It’s hard to risk the safety of your children because of just one single announcement that the tsunami alert has already been lifted. It is better to keep safe until everything is well,” she said.
Fidela Folio brought her whole family in barangay Busay after they felt the aftershock at 6 p.m. last Monday.
She said her husband, a passenger jeepney driver, asked his operator if they could rent their unit overnight.
In Badian town, Senior Insp. Almirante Bacayo, Badian police chief, said 45 motorized fishing boats and 60 bancas in barangay Zaragosa were damaged when big waves hit them following the aftershocks.
Classes in all public elementary and secondary schools in Central Visayas were suspended yesterday to give way for inspections of all school buildings.
But the advisory issued at 7 a.m. came too late as students were headed to class.
Cebu City Schools Division Supt. Rhea Mar Angtud apologized to parents, saying they were informed late about the advisory.
She said the Cebu City Central School, Guadalupe Elementary School, Mambaling Elementary School and San Nicolas Elementary School sustained hairline cracks in their walls. Correspondents Carmel Loise Matus, Fe Marie Dumaboc, Norman V. Mendoza and Rhea Ruth V. Rosell