What social media brought before our eyes recently were scenes that horrified — a tall building in Bangkok crumbling to dust; cars gingerly making their way over caved-in roads; a couple shaken out of their stupor on a rooftop pool, the water of which gushed down the sides of the building as it swayed and shook miles away from the earthquake’s center in Myanmar.

The recent magnitude-7.7 quake that has claimed the lives of thousands — and counting — brings back questions of our own earthquake-readiness, especially with the prospect of “The Big One.”

Are we prepared for a worst-case scenario? The Office of Civil Defense thinks not.

While other Asian countries are revisiting their disaster plans, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) has some troubling news about that dreaded earthquake.

If it happens in the National Capital Region, Philvolcs said, the death toll may reach 50,000, with “heavy damage” to “12 to 13 percent” of residential buildings, and about “11 percent” to 10 to 30-story structures.

Philvolcs Director Dr. Teresito Bacolcol said “The Big One” would be a magnitude-7.2 quake should the West Valley Fault on the eastern side of Metro Manila move. Some 33,500 casualties will result from the earthquake itself, with 18,000 perishing from fires and other hazards, he said. About 100,000 will be injured in the catastrophe, according to the forecast detailed in Net25.

What sort of economic damage would that amount to?

For a country that is reportedly “the ninth most earthquake-prone worldwide,” we certainly get “shookt” more by political quakes to be bothered much by what it means for us when bridges collapse because of “design flaws” and some budgeted infrastructure can likely be nonexistent — literally “for the books.”

But now that the tectonic action seems be running around the Pacific, Filipinos must shake themselves out of cynical indifference and prepare for impending disaster. This means our leaders — veteran, newbie or wannabe — should not cut corners when it comes to the strength and durability of our structures; must ensure that funds will go fully where they are intended; and quit throwing bombshells that serve no one but themselves.

The Cabagan-Santa Maria Bridge in Isabela is a reminder that mistakes and shortcuts like cutting funding “para makamura (to get a cheaper deal),” as President Bongbong Marcos himself explained the history of the project, should not be excused.

The bridge took a little over 10 years to be completed, only to collapse forthwith from a “weak design” and “overloading.” Do we blame the lack of maintenance or the companies who let loose those three overloaded trucks that crossed the bridge?

The structure was, as BBM interestingly described it, “the only suspension bridge without cables worldwide.”

All these factors are ridiculous to contemplate, let alone accept. But will there be accountability? Imagine what would have happened if that bridge had been carrying many more vehicles.

Imagine if an earthquake had shaken that supposed “landmark,” designed during the time of President Benigno Aquino whose Public Works and Highways secretary at the time was Rogelio Singson. Bridge engineer Albert Canete worked with United Technology Consolidated Partnership for the structural design.

The Office of Civil Defense recently said in an ABS-CBN report that “engineering solutions are the first level of readiness for major earthquakes.”

How earthquake-proof are our condominiums, office buildings, residences, bridges and hospitals? How ingrained in the people are the disaster preparedness drills that local government units conduct intermittently?

The costs to life and the economy would be unimaginable should a mega-quake come if all we know is “duck, cover and hold.”