Survivors’ narratives of earthquake hazards in central Philippines since the 1940s: input to a more responsive policymaking

Narrative inquiry and qualitative phenomenology approach uncover complex human experiences and key to the understanding of realities. Previous studies on the narratives of earthquake survivors focused on their struggle to survive, assessment of the state's rehabilitation effort, ability to recollect experiences, and vulnerability to health problems. This paper clustered the survivors' uncommon characterization of seismic hazards and their defense strategies associated with the five destructive earthquakes in the central Philippines since the 1940s. The 92 respondents who were chosen through purposive sampling underwent individual semi-structured interview using the local languages. The recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim, translated, and analyzed further using thematic analysis. A dominant folklore on the causes of a tectonic earthquake and the proper response to it belies science but all stories that portray seismic hazards fit with scientific studies. The narratives phenomenally described ground shaking, tsunami, seiche, ground fissures/lateral spreading, landslide, liquefaction/sand boil, and ground rupture. Some noticed more fissures near the shoreline, fissures on the seafloor, dust inside and outside the shaken buildings, drained streams and springs, and coastal uplift and subsidence. Others noted acidic water in sand boils and ground fissures and heard a loud explosion succeeding another raging sound of an approaching landslide. It was found that a struggle to escape from threats may be reinforced by their knowledge on preparedness and presence of mind. Further, a dissemination of survivors' narratives in local languages can convince the younger generation to prepare for earthquakes since multilingualism is essential in developing effective disaster risk reduction solutions.