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Thursday, October 13, 2005
Palace to public works: Inspect structures in RP
MALACANANG Wednesday ordered the public works department to periodically check the structural integrity of all public buildings, major roads and bridges to ensure their safeness in the light of the destructive quake in South Asia.
"This has to be done in Metro Manila and all centers of population so we can be assured or give insurance to our people that we are preparing for something without necessarily alarming them," said Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.
Ermita also ordered the education, labor, and other concerned departments to promote earthquake preparedness in schools, workplaces and local communities in coordination with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
He said two Filipino citizens were fortunate enough to escape from an 11-storey residential building in Islamabad before it collapsed.
He said the Philippines is ready to extend humanitarian assistance to the governments of the Pakistan, India and Afghanistan within the ambit of its expertise and available resources.
The 7.8-magnitude quake killed 41,000 in Pakistan alone and rendered 2.5 million people in South Asia homeless.
Renato Solidum Jr., Phivolcs director, said it is very common in South Asia to have such high casualty rate because the houses are either made of bricks or mud and only a few buildings have reinforcements.
Solidum said 30,000 people were killed in a quake in Iran in 2003 while 25,000 were killed in a quake in India in 2001.
In the Philippines, he said an average of one strong quake with has intensity of 7 happens every four to five years. The last time was in 1994 in Mindoro, where 83 people died.
He said the 7.8-magnitude quake in Central Luzon in 1990 was stronger than in South Asia but the casualties are only 1,700 because the Philippines has a good building code.
Solidum said the Phivolcs has helped ascertain the possible impact of a strong quake for the whole country through hazard mapping. He said the map showing the active faults in the country and various earthquake generators is incorporated in the 2002 National Structural Code of the Philippines and serves as a guide for engineers in constructing a building.
He said the possibility of a strong quake hitting Metro Manila remains because the fault system on the eastern side of Metro Manila has not moved for 200 years. Its interval of movement is 200 to 400 years. (JMR/Sunnex)
(October 13, 2005 issue)
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