The paper says lawmakers should update building codes, and the government must ensure that its rules and regulations are enforced. Read more at straitstimes.com.
MANILA - All too predictably, the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake on Feb 6 that devastated southeastern Turkey and parts of Syria, and claimed at least 40,000 lives, has triggered fresh calls from lawmakers to overhaul the 46-year-old National Building Code, and prepare the country for the much-dreaded “Big One.”
The same call was sounded by then House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano following a series of deadly quakes in Mindanao in Oct 2019. Unfortunately, any sense of urgency on the issue has since waned in Congress, which is preoccupied with Charter change and a sovereign wealth fund. Based on the damage estimate by the 2004 Earthquake Impact Reduction Study for Metropolitan Manila, the potential rupture of the West Valley Fault will affect as many as 40 per cent of residential buildings within Metro Manila: 170,000 residential houses will collapse while another 340,000 will be partly damaged, and 34,000 persons will die while 114,000 will be injured.
Instead, Presidential Decree No. 1096 or the National Building Code of the Philippines issued in 1977 remains very much in use, despite the potential risks posed by changing conditions: buildings getting taller, occupancy going higher, typhoons becoming stronger, and temperatures getting warmer. The task force of the Department of Public Works and Highways that investigated the collapse of the Chuzon Supermarket in Porac, Pampanga, following a 6.1-magnitude quake in April 2019, found multiple structural and documentary defects in the building. The damage sustained was caused by the builders’ failure to comply with required referral codes, design plans and specifications, and proper construction supervision.
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