Last week, a late-night earthquake shook Manila. I understand that it knocked out electricity in some neighbourhoods and caused people to scramble out of their cars and flee buildings in terror. I did not see any of this - in fact, I only found out about it in the next day's news reports. I slept through the entire thing.
Perhaps I did not notice it because I have been through so many in my life, my body is beginning to get used to the rocking motion. Anyone living in this country had better be prepared for a shaky existence, and the reason is simple: the archipelago lies right over a mess of major tectonic plates, fissures and faults, all of them heaving, pushing and straining at each other, which means that the ground above is never sedate.
Scientists think that the Philippines experiences up to five earthquakes a day, although, thankfully, most are barely noticeable. But anyone who has ever felt a major quake here does not easily forget it: imagine standing inside what seems to be a solid steel and concrete building, then feeling it move and buckle as if it were a ship in heaving seas. (Manila's coastal area is actually built on highly compressed mud, while its periphery, lying on bedrock, is geologically safer to build on.) Earthquakes can strike at any time, so we have developed coping mechanisms. Inside a house, we will automatically look up to the ceiling if we suspect an earthquake. The reason is that lights and other ornaments suspended from the roof always swing noticeably. During a tremor, we duck under a table - a technique which actually saved lives during the last great earthquake.
We have also learned that terrible though a quake might be, it is almost always followed by aftershocks that can be lethal, so we always stay alert. People living near the coast are often advised to flee because a large tremor could be followed by a huge tsunami, which can sweep away villages.
Not every Filipino might know the difference between 'intensity' and 'magnitude', but most know that when either number is higher than five, the quake is strong. Last week's tremor was rated at magnitude 6.2 on the Richter scale - enough to damage structures near its epicentre.
The worst earthquake I have ever experienced was in 1990, which levelled buildings, all but destroyed a small city and killed more than 1,200 people. An 11-storey building beside the office I was in swayed so much that its upper windows bulged, then exploded, and a huge crack appeared down the side.
