WHEN THE shaking begins, the clock starts ticking. According to the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) as reported by this paper yesterday, residents would have only 15 minutes — no more — to seek safety if a powerful earthquake along the Negros Trench triggers a localized tsunami. Fifteen minutes. That is barely enough time to react, let alone evacuate, if panic and confusion prevail.
This worst-case scenario should jolt us out of complacency. In a city where coastal communities continue to expand and where many residents still treat disaster drills as routine formalities, the danger of underestimating nature’s power is profound. Preparedness cannot be seasonal or dependent on official schedules — it must become a way of life.
The warning from CDRRMO is not a prophecy of doom but a call to action. Iloilo City’s flat terrain leaves it with few options for quick horizontal evacuation. The nearest high ground is in Cabatuan, Iloilo far beyond reach in a 15-minute window. In such a scenario, vertical evacuation — seeking refuge in tall, earthquake-resistant buildings — becomes the only viable lifeline. But that requires more than infrastructure; it demands discipline, awareness, and muscle memory built through constant community drills.
In many coastal barangays, the instinct after an earthquake is still to wait for instructions, to look for official confirmation before moving. That hesitation could cost lives. Every second counts when the sea begins to rise. The first shaking is already the warning. People must be trained to act automatically — to “go up, not out” — without waiting for sirens or social media alerts.
The city government has commendably conducted earthquake simulations, often in partnership with the Office of Civil Defense. But these efforts must go deeper. Preparedness must reach the grassroots: fisherfolk, market vendors, jeepney drivers, students, and homemakers. Barangay-based education, house-to-house information campaigns, and regular community drills should be institutionalized — not treated as one-off events during Disaster Resilience Month.
Disasters do not wait for the convenient hour. Nor do they discriminate between the informed and the unprepared. If Iloilo City is serious about becoming disaster-resilient, preparedness must move from policy to practice, from PowerPoint slides to lived routine.
Fifteen minutes to safety is not enough time for confusion, denial, or delay. But it is enough time — if every Ilonggo knows exactly what to do. The difference between survival and tragedy lies not in the length of warning, but in the readiness of the people who hear it.
