SHORTLY after a recent magnitude 7 earthquake struck parts of northern Luzon, the Office of Civil Defense in Western Visayas ordered local disaster risk reduction and management councils to assess the structural integrity of their infrastructures to ensure their safety and resilience.
It’s a good call. We cannot predict when an earthquake will occur. In fact, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake – later revised to 5 – hit Antique this Saturday, Aug. 13.
The best protection against earthquakes is sound engineering practice, so we must always be prepared. It is a must that we revisit our construction standards, codes and practices. We must examine them now and correct any deficiencies. The evaluation and retrofitting of infrastructure in the country, especially hospitals, schools and bridges, must be done regularly to ensure that they can withstand strong earthquakes.
This lesson we must accept: Prevention is cost-effective. A guidebook on the promotion of disaster mitigation, which was published by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization, revealed that the cost of disaster-proofing a hospital or health facility by incorporating comprehensive disaster protection from earthquake and extreme climatic events into designs from the beginning will only add four percent to the cost of construction. This cost is nothing compared to the risk of destruction and death of patients and staff during a disaster, and the equally high health, economic and development impacts in the aftermath.
School and hospital authorities must act now. They must consult structural engineers and assess the vulnerability of school and hospital structures to strong earthquakes, and institute immediate measures to strengthen parts found weak and likely to collapse.
We should likewise ensure that our homes and offices, shopping malls and public buildings, and heritage sites are able to withstand strong earthquakes. We must ensure proper and safe construction.
