NINE establishments in Davao City, including some malls, schools, and other commercial establishments, are currently placed under “yellow tag” status after incurring damage brought about by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the city on December 15 this year.
Office of the City Building Official (Ocbo) head Cirinia Grace Catubig said on Thursday, December 26, that establishments placed under “yellow tag” status only incurred damage in specific portions of the establishments.
“Establishments under ‘yellow tag’ status have specific areas wherein dapat i-cordon ug dili paagian tungod kinahanglan siya i-restructurize (Establishments under ‘yellow tag’ status have specific areas that need to be cordoned off and restricted to make way for their repair or renovation),” Catubig told Sunstar Davao.
She said seven of these establishments were earlier issued with the same status after incurring damage from the previous earthquake in October this year.
However, the official said she will disclose the names as inspection is currently undergoing.
She added that despite Ocbo’s recommendation for restrictions on some of these buildings’ portions, they were still issued a lawful occupancy permit provided they will comply with the Ocbo’s recommendation.
The building official confirmed that those under the yellow tag status include a mall along J.P. Laurel Avenue wherein some portions of the building, including its movie theatre, were temporary closed.
She added the office engineers found major wall cracks at the mall cinema’s fire exit wherein one bracket main duct had collapsed as well as along seismic gap.
Catubig said three establishments have already complied with Ocbo’s recommendation for rehabilitation but they still have not passed Ocbo’s standard.
“Naa’y tulo ka establishments nga naka-‘yellow tag’ nga gi-re-inspect namo. Pero wala gihapon siya napasar sa standards maong wala pa namo na-lift (We already re-inspected three ‘yellow-tagged’ establishments. But they still haven’t passed the standards of the office that is why we haven’t lifted their status),” she said.
Meanwhile, Ocbo, early December, gave seven quake-affected buildings placed under “red tag” status an ultimatum to comply with the necessary documents, or they will face possible sanctions. These establishments incurred major damages from the previous earthquake.
Catubig said owners of “red tag” establishments were initially issued vacate notices to assess and fix the damage of their structures.
She added the list did not add up after the re-inspection they had conducted following the December 15 earthquake.
Catubig said most of the “red tag” establishments had already complied with Ocbo’s required re-assessment test result, which would be the basis of their re-assessment of the building’s structural integrity.
The official earlier said Ocbo recommended these buildings to undergo retrofitting, a process that involves the careful balancing of different elements and their effects on the overall performance of a building.
As to the lifting of their “red tag” status, she said it would “take a long time”, depending on the building owners’ compliance.
Catubig said they had already conducted dialogue with the homeowners of the affected condominium buildings, adding that they were also provided with the specific timeline of the re-assessment process.
“They (homeowners) were already made aware of the time frame of the assessment by the condo developers. We also personally communicated with them on how things work, while the condo building is currently being retrofitted,” Catubig said.
The official admitted they had to go “back to zero” with their inspection after the recent earthquake this month.
At present, she said Ocbo inspected 32 percent of the total building establishments in the city.