Why were those Catholic churches affected by the quake?

Editor's Note: This is Neil Rara's response to a tweet asking why only Catholic churches seemed to be catastrophically affected by the Bohol earthquake.

The first thing that I did when I woke up this morning was check Twitter for updates about yesterday's quake that hit my home province of Bohol. 

I came across a tweet that caught my attention (a screen capture of which I have posted below). I hope the tweet was not trying to use yesterday's earthquake, which by the way killed many people in Bohol and Cebu, to try to win a centuries-long religious debate tackling the issue: "Which is the true Church of Jesus?"
 

Yes, several CATHOLIC churches were toppled yesterday as a result of the 7.2-magnitude quake, and Jesus was not to blame for it but [it was because of] a fault that ruptured in the eastern section of the island province.

For the record, most of the newer, more modern CATHOLIC churches withstood the quake.

 

So how come most of the structures damaged in yesterday's quake were all Catholic Churches?

 

The answer is because most of the images posted by netizens immediately after the quake were photos of these famous churches. But in reality, apart from the churches, homes, commercial establishments, and school buildings were also damaged here and there but very few have posted [online] (and shared) photos of these. Besides, what could be more interesting news than a 400-year-old church being destroyed by a quake?

 

The fact of the matter is that most of the churches destroyed yesterday were built during the Spanish colonial era when the use of cement and reinforcing steelbars (ReBars) to strengthen the foundation of a building had not yet been introduced. This building technique (use of concrete and rebars) is a relatively modern invention. 

 

Those old churches were built mostly using blocks of coral stones stacked layer upon layer, with each layer literally "glued" to the next using an amalgam of egg white and sand. Only gravity and thousands, or perhaps millions, of eggs were keeping those structures standing for centuries. Although eggs are ideal for breakfast, they do a poor job keeping things in place. And that's why we've got cement today.

 

Yesterday's quake was not a minor tremor. It was capable of wreaking havoc even on reinforced structures like modern homes and buildings – and it did. If it was strong enough to reduce stronger, concrete homes to shambles, wouldn't it be more likely to destroy un-reinforced structures like the old churches?

 

These antique churches are a treasure to us Boholanos – Catholics or non-Catholics – not only because of their religious value but also because of their social and cultural significance. Every single day, tourists who visit these churches as part of their itinerary are left with a feeling of amazement, not because they are Catholics, but because these structures have remained the same while things around them have changed through the centuries. These churches were like a time capsule stuck in an era long gone. This remained true until yesterday.

 

Today, only rubble, photos, and memories remain of these churches. 
 

If the loss broke the hearts of the local and foreign tourists who visited these churches in the past, just imagine how much more painful it is for those who grew up hearing mass or were baptized, confirmed, and wed in these churches. No words can accurately describe the feeling.

 

We may be able to restore these churches to their former glory, but they will never be the same churches. Not anymore. – KDM, GMA News 
 

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Neil Celeste Rara was born and raised in Tagbilaran City, Bohol and is currently a Social Media Specialist at GMA Network. This essay originally appeared on his Facebook Timeline on October 16. We are re-posting it here with his permission .