ILOILO City – The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) ordered local disaster risk reduction and management councils to assess the structural integrity of infrastructures in their respective areas.
Are they resilient to earthquakes?
OCD Region 6 director Jose Roberto Nuñez issued on July 27 Memorandum No. 63 ordering the conduct of inspections shortly after a magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck northern Luzon.
“It is needed, especially (because) we have old churches and high-rise buildings,” said OCD-6 information officer Cindy Ferrer.
The region is no stranger to strong tremors. In Jan. 25, 1948 around 1:46 a.m. a magnitude 8.2 tremor jolted Panay Island and its sleeping people. It destroyed 55 Spanish-era stone churches and triggered a tsunami.
According to Ferrer, assessment activities should be coordinated with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the concerned provincial, city, or municipal engineering offices.
“The municipal DRRMCs may also opt to cascade the assessment down to the barangay level,” Ferrer added.
The assessment will be compiled and furnished to the DPWH and the Department of the Interior and Local Government for information, reference and recommendations.
According to Ferrer, OCD-6 yearly issues a memorandum on the conduct of structural integrity inspection of infrastructures. However, compliance is poor due to the lack of sanctions for failing to submit an assessment report to the OCD-6.
On Monday, a powerful earthquake jolted northern Luzon, damaging properties, triggering landslides, injuring at least 64 people, and killing at least five. (PNA/PN)
