10/2013 - News Updates - Montfort Missionaries Philippines

Everyone in the house was doing the assigned tasks when suddenly the ground started to shake at around 8:12 in the morning. “Earthquake! Earthquake! Everybody let us go out!” All of us went outside, near the kiosk of Our Lady of Wisdom and offered our prayers as community.
The house as well as the car shook violently like a boat tossed by the big waves, the houses and the school building at the back started to crack with every shifting movement. Loud cries and prayers were heard from the neighborhood as if it was the end of everything. We thought the shaking would last for only a few seconds but it went on seemingly endlessly.
The strong shifting of the ground did not end with the major tremor that hit that morning. There were aftershocks, more than a hundred of them. The last two were strong enough that the people near the shore were expecting a tsunami since the sea started to go backward; everyone crazily ran looking for a safe place. We were outside our gate when we saw the people and have asked them what was going on but they did not reply. So for our safety, we rode on our car and rushed to the parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minglanilla as our refuge. Along the way, we prayed the Rosary, and we can’t stop our tears to fall upon seeing the sick people and the children being carried by their relatives. In the brighter side of this, we were all safe, and we were united as one community.
When we checked the house from possible damages, we have seen minor cracks in the refectory and some broken images. Thanks and praise be to God that no one was hurt. We do not know how long the fear and the worries will last. We have to move on despite the catastrophe and entrust it to the Divine Providence.

-Armel R. Collantes
Postulant



    

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