Hello hivers I’m 
When the strong earthquake occurred last September 30 here in Cebu. I was at my workplace during that time. Around 9PM, I think everything started shaking. It was so sudden and it was such a terrifying moment for us with my coworkers it was so very traumatic. At that time, I was on a break and our office was shaking slowly and I thought that it was just a big truck that passed by our office because that's the usual thing if there's a big truck that passes by at our office. But then, it suddenly became much stronger, so we immediately rushed outside, but we don't know where safe we will be going.
The earthquake happens last tuesday in the evening and I am in Cebu worying that time and after the incident I immediately contacting my parents, my brother and also my neighbor to how are they or should I sat to check them but sadly they are all cannot be reached. I am worrying all night and still contacting them but they really can’t. So early in the morning I am so happy because my mother called finally . On the other line of the call with my mother, I could hear her snoring and crying. Her voice was very trembling while she said that "Dae, wala na ta’y balay," which is in English means is, "We don't have a home anymore." She told me that our house has been literally destroyed by the strong earthquake and our house is impacted by it. Hearing those words from her really broke my heart huhu. I really feel the pain in her voice everything the that she said was really filled with sadness and fear for her. I didn’t know what to say. I was overwhelmed with emotion also after she said it, and my hands were shaking, and even tears were already falling down my face.
In that moment, I felt so helpless being far away from them. That my family was suffered in the trauma that the earthquake hit so hard in northern Cebu that they had to face, and that they are worrying also in our house, that place where we shared all our memories the sadness, laughter, problems everything was there. I was in the city at that time a little bit far away from them in our province at that time, which made me feel so worried about their safety, knowing that the aftershocks are nonstop like it almost every minute will shake the ground or the surroundings. I wanted so badly to go home to be there at their side with them at that time and to comfort my family especially my mother who is so vety soft and to let them know everything would be okay and it will pass by.
I was supposed to go home tomorrow morning after the incident happened. But sadly it seemed like some of the usual routes weren’t accessible due to the earthquake damages and also the bus was already full. There are a lot of people as you can see in the picture below, at the stoplight waiting. I think they'll go home to the Cebu province also to check on their loved ones. I tried to find another way to go home after the incident happened because I was so worried about them, but sadly there really wasn’t any option at the time. Still, I made sure to always check on my family in the province from time to time. I always text my brother since there is no internet connection for them at that time. I didn'tsleep worrying about their situation there that's why early the next morning I went home immediately .
As I arrived home, my heart was really aching by the sight that greeted me our house totally destroyed by the strong earthquake that hit us in northern Cebu. The damage was terrible, and it very much shattered my heart to see that the place that once held so many memories was broken to almost nothing. Starting over again feels so very hard, especially when we don’t even have enough budget to rebuild yet.
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSULUjKMt/
(Video from my tiktok account )
That is our story of how the earthquake took so much from us in just seconds or minute rather, my dear hivers. To my dear Hivers thank you for reading and being there with us with me in this blog. I’ll share more about the situation here with us or in northern Cebu in my next blog.