Rehabilitation of the heritage churches and other important cultural properties damaged by the Oct. 15, 2013, earthquake has resulted in a remarkable show of coordination among the key cultural agencies of the government, as well as very close cooperation between the local and national governments, the Catholic Church, and local communities.
University of San Carlos (USC) of Cebu and Holy Name University (HNU) of Bohol are set to launch Monday the book “Pagsulay: Churches of Bohol Before and After the Earthquake of 2013.”
Last week, an earthquake struck Luzon and heavy rains caused flash floods again in Metro Manila.
It doesn’t seem like anything remotely close to a reunion would transpire as bodies of the dead pile up in “Reunion” (“Itai Asu e no Tokakan”), last year’s Japanese film release which tackles events based on the aftermath of the Great East Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011. It is one of the 16 contemporary films in this year’s Eiga Sai, with theme focusing on family.
Here is an interesting response to last week’s column about leaving seriously damaged Bohol churches as ruins rather than totally reconstructing them.
The general sentiment is that Bohol churches devastated by the recent earthquake will rise again from the rubble, reconstructed faithfully, patiently, carefully rebuilt stone by stone, until each damaged structure returns to what it used to be.
Reconstruction of ancient churches and other heritage structures in Bohol destroyed or damaged by the earthquake last year can start only by yearend.
To help in the psychological rehabilitation of communities hit by disasters last years, the National Commission for the Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Committee on Dramatic Arts held Theater on the Edge at the municipalities of Dauis and Loon in Bohol during the recent National Arts Month.
A few weeks after the earthquake struck Bohol last October, members of the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines (Asep) volunteered to survey and to propose procedures to restore, repair or replace damaged heritage structures.
The recent earthquake brought many Bohol houses down. Other structures simply collapsed. With an earthquake that strong, whose impact was compounded by many major aftershocks, only the most structurally sound of houses managed to remain standing.
