My folks and I were travelling some place and we stopped by a sari-sari store to get something to drink. Just then I noticed this massive mountain-eclipsing wave. It reminded me of that traditional Japanese print called “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” (1829) by Hokusai. It loomed like a wall behind the mountain range. This mountain range was about a few kilometers from the side of the highway where we were standing sipping our drinks.
People looked up from whatever it was they were doing and started to panic. They scampered off, parents dragged their children, lovers hugged then ran, people just ran like hell. Dad remarked that maybe it was time to get inside our car. The wave was just standing there, it was caught in suspension, like some force is keeping it from falling down. This lasted for a few minutes, just enough so that we could run to the car parked on the other side of the road. Just as I closed the door, the wave slammed down.
It was a bit anti-climactic. I was expecting massive damage – huge buildings reduced to debris, houses reduced to rubble, water at least ten meters high, etc., instead it was so weak it sort of like flowed into where we were. The water just reached up to our knees.
What was funny though is that I remember before the wave came down, I saw this guy balancing himself on a plank of wood on the side of the wave. He was wearing only shorts. He was surfing.
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