Earthquake . . . and a Short Geography Lesson

A 7.8 earthquake hit the southern island of the Philippines on Monday, June 8, the first day of school after the summer holidays. So hard to hear that people died and schools and homes were destroyed. Sadly, earthquakes, tsumanis, and typhoons are just a part of life in the Philippines. No earthquake for us here in Cebu City, which is many miles north of the affected area.

Now for the geography lesson.  I have always loved maps.  As young girls, my sisters, Arlene and Myrna, and I often studied the big world globe or looked at maps and dreamed of the many places in the world we thought we would never see, not knowing that our dreams would one day come true.

The Philippines was never on my radar, but here we are in this beautiful country with kind, faithful people.  Philippines has about 7600 islands, give or take, with about 2000 of them being inhabited.  The Philippines is divided geographically into three areas: Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.  See below for those areas.

The northern region is Luzon, with Manila as the main city.  We visited the Manila area when the temple was closed in February and I reported on that visit in previous posts. 

The Visayas is the central area (but minus that big island of Palawan on the left, which is technically in the northern region).  Cebu City is the main city (although google maps puts Bacolod in larger print than Cebu).

The southern region is Mindanao, which is where the 7.8 earthquake struck and caused so much damage.  This region is more prone to earthquakes, but less prone to typhoons.  A young woman I met at the temple is engaged to a man from Mindanao, and they are trying to decide whether to live where it's cheaper and risk earthquakes, or to live in Cebu, which is more expensive but prone to typhoons.  Hard decision.

Couldn't resist adding another map.  This map shows the Cebu City Temple District as of April 2026.  The Cebu Temple at that time served members in the Visayas and Mindanao areas. You can see why so many people travel so far.  They travel by ferry, overnight boat, bus, jeepny, or plane.  Yet they still come faithfully to the temple as often as they can, and often at great expense.

By the end of May, two more temples were dedicated -- in Bacolod and Davao -- so the Cebu City Temple district has shrunk majorly.  (No map for that yet). 
There are now 6 operating temples in Philippines, with 8 more announced or under construction.  And we have been told that more will be coming. What a blessing for these faithful people.