We may be spared from untold devastation of the last killer earthquake. Unlike those who suffered from physical damage in terms of houses leveled to the ground and of livelihood lost due to dislocation. They are now settled in makeshift shelters in some open spaces which they call as home. Pray tell if we are luckier than others as we escaped destruction, death or injury. Lucky we may be, but the fallout to our own little business from the tremor, is just as devastating. That exactly is the meat of this story as we picked up the pieces of what was left of the recent earthquake.

For one, with those hardly-hit by the calamity, the victims are more occupied with lining up for relief goods. In our case, the solution to escape from the devastating impact is where to get the lifeblood of our existence to sustain our operations. Before the quake, we are trying to keep our nose above water, but this time, we are tiptoeing to prevent us from drowning.

As to the real victims, the question is how long will they be in that dire situation. Considering the magnitude of the problem, the answer is it depends upon the capacity of relief agencies to make do with whatever available resources at hand. If the relief operations will run for years, then, the destructive spillover to business will also be in years. While the newspaper business already suffered from a slowdown in advertising revenues even before the October 15 earthquake, the more it was struck with destructive force when the calamity happened.

That is the reality that stares us in the face as government agencies prioritized the giving of relief goods to earthquake victims. With local government units in the forefront of on-going relief efforts, advertisements are the least of their worries as their concentration is more on alleviating the emergency needs of those who suffered the most of the last calamity. It may be noted that business from LGUs is the source of our bread and butter. With the LGUs up to their necks in meeting the relief requirements of their constituents, there’s no way that non-priority items are high up in their agenda.

Sizing up the extent of the devastation in the hardly-hit towns would show that the top priority is the repair and or construction of the damaged municipal halls. In towns straddling the so-called Carmen-Sagbayan fault line, several municipal halls bore the brunt of the powerful quake. Since the seats of government were no longer fit for occupancy, it is a given that they should be on top of the priority list in terms of immediate repair and construction. We don’t think the LGUs will allow government operations to suffer on top of any other priority. Under this circumstance, any other business will have to be relegated in the back burner in favor of more pressing matters like extending food and shelter to victims and repair and construction of damaged infrastructures. Meanwhile, while business is in a slowdown mode, we just hope we still have the resilience to stay afloat until everything is back to normal. By then, we can say it’s business as usual because we are back on our feet to normalcy.