qaYear zero

Even if you were nowhere near Tacloban City on Nov. 8, 2013, this day will always be remembered as the day when our attitude towards storms and typhoons changed. When everything we used to know about the strength and breadth of a typhoon and the conventional ways we prepare for its onslaught no longer apply. Yolanda, and its monster storm surge, changed all that, or if it hasn’t, then it should.

Two days before the supertyphoon, I felt smug because I was ready with canned goods, water, medicines, change of clothes, emergency utensils, tarpaulin, rope, duct tape, garbage bags for waterproofing and emergency lamps enough to last the next 48 hours – all neatly packed in my lightweight and compact bugout bag. I thought we would be safe even from the flood because we had a second floor and the building behind my apartment had a third floor where we could take shelter in case flood inundated our whole apartment.

Then I saw the first video from Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte. My dreadful realization was that had the full strength of supertyphoon Yolanda hit Cebu City, my family would not have made it.

The place where I live is pretty much sea level and a storm surge would have easily engulfed us, even the third story building where we intended to take shelter. We would have better chances if we left all our possessions behind and took shelter on much higher ground such as the Good Shepherd Convent in Banawa Hills or in the hills of Busay, Cebu City.

There’s a saying that goes – “You prepare for the last moment by being prepared every moment.” After Yolanda, there is no such thing as over-preparation for an oncoming disaster. You have to be ready for even the most unlikely scenario because with climate change wreaking havoc on our weather patterns, even the most unimaginable doomsday scenario can and will happen.

All these is hindsight. I’m just truly thankful I have the luxury of revising my disaster preparedness plan. Thousands in Leyte and Samar never got the chance.

Cebu Marathon Training Diary

Starting yesterday, Nov. 11, registration fees for the Cebu Marathon 2014 will be more expensive by P400. That means the 42K registration will now cost you P1,800 a pop until Dec. 2. After Dec. 2, the fees become more expensive at P2,200. If I were you, I’d go to their website at www.cebumarathon.com and register online or visit the Cebu Marathon booth at the Ayala Active Zone and register before prices go up on Dec. 3.

If you’re already training in earnest, you might want to consider doing your short runs along the mean hills of R. Duterte Street in Banawa. As previously announced, the old Cebu Marathon route has been changed. The 42K runners will no longer run along Mango Avenue and will instead run towards Banawa after passing through the Cebu Provincial Capitol, before going down Osmeña Boulevard, SRP, Talisay, then back to the Cebu I.T. Park to complete an out and back loop. The turnaround point in Banawa is the area before Paseo Arcenas. All the rest of last year’s marathon route will remain the same.