The magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck last Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, was not my first encounter with the fury of the earth. In February 2011, I was in Christchurch, New Zealand, when a violent 6.3 magnitude tremor flattened much of the city. It is impossible to forget: the laundry half-wrung in my hands, my wife crying under the kitchen table, the street littered with debris. That quake killed 185 people, including 12 Filipino nursing students, four of them from Cebu.
The days that followed were heartbreaking as I worked for a Philippine media outlet as a TV correspondent, reporting on the missing Filipinos and the rising body count. But in that season of grief, I also witnessed resilience, solidarity and a kind of leadership that left a lasting impression. Christchurch mayor Bob Parker emerged as the calm, steady voice that held a broken city together. His words, “Keep calm and carry on,” were not rhetoric, but reassurance.
From Christchurch and from our own experience in Cebu, I have carried three lessons that matter deeply in times of disaster: humanitarianism, leadership and development.
The lesson on humanitarianism: compassion and inclusion. Disasters strip away our illusions of self-sufficiency. In Christchurch, I saw strangers share food, neighbors look out for each other and volunteers organize memorials to honor the dead. Migrants like Filipinos were not treated as outsiders; we were embraced as part of the city’s healing.
This resonates with our own bayanihan spirit in the Philippines. After typhoons or earthquakes, we cook together, we share what little we have and we extend comfort to strangers. The lesson is clear: compassion sustains communities and inclusion makes them stronger. Humanitarianism is not charity; it is dignity and solidarity.
The lesson on leadership: calm, transparent, empathetic. Bob Parker’s leadership stood in stark contrast to what we often see in Philippine politics. He communicated clearly and transparently, providing practical guidance (even teaching people how to turn yards into toilets when sanitation collapsed). He adapted as circumstances shifted, never hiding behind bureaucracy. Most importantly, he was present. He attended memorials, asked personally about the Filipino community and grieved with us. (I remember Bob Parker approached me in one of the press cons and personally thanked me for the hard work we do.)
In the Philippines, leaders face similar tests with every typhoon, quake or flood. Some rise to the occasion with sincerity, while others fall into the trap of spectacle: photo ops, fiery speeches or short-term gestures. Christchurch reminds me that true leadership is not about theatrics, but trust. Calmness steadies the people, transparency builds confidence and empathy restores hope.
The lesson on development: vision and resilience. Out of the ruins of Christchurch came the Central Recovery Plan, a long-term vision for rebuilding not just structures but the spirit of the city. It involved extensive community consultation, ensuring that recovery was not imposed but owned. The process continues to this day, more than a decade later.
Here in the Philippines, we have seen the challenges of recovery. From Yolanda in Tacloban to the Bohol quake, and even in Cebu’s Typhoon Odette, reconstruction is too often rushed, politicized or short-term. We build back quickly, but not always wisely. The lesson from Christchurch is that development after disaster is not just about restoring what was lost; it is about reimagining a better, safer and more inclusive future.
Two earthquakes, Christchurch in 2011 and Cebu in 2025, have taught me that disasters are more than events. They are teachers. They reveal who we are as people, what we expect from our leaders and how we envision our communities’ future.
Humanitarianism reminds us to care. Leadership reminds us to guide with integrity. Development reminds us to rebuild with vision.
Cebu and the Philippines, like Christchurch, will always face hazards. But if we carry these lessons forward — compassion in our hearts, steadiness in our leaders and vision in our plans — we can emerge not only standing, but stronger.
