The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils (RDRRMC) in Western Visayas and the Negros Island Region (NIR) have ordered the structural integrity assessment of buildings and critical infrastructure following the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that hit Cebu on Tuesday, September 30.
With the powerful tremor felt across the Visayas region, RDRRMC-6 Chairperson and Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-6 Regional Director Raul Fernandez urged authorities to act swiftly in identifying risks and recommending solutions, such as repairs, retrofitting and even clearing of potentially unsafe facilities.
“Every structure that has been weakened by this earthquake poses a possible danger to our communities,” Fernandez said in a statement, emphasizing that the protection of Filipino lives is of utmost priority.
The RDRRMCs’ directive intends to determine the extent of damage to public and private structures, identify facilities that pose risks to public safety, provide corrective recommendations, and consolidate local assessment reports for response and recovery planning purposes.
Fernandez noted that inspections must be a coordinated effort among engineering offices, building officials, and Local DRRM Offices to ensure that these are performed systematically and follow established safety standards.
Several local government units have suspended classes in all levels and work in government offices to pave the way for rapid damage assessment and needs analysis of public infrastructure.
“Indi lahog-lahog ang linog nga aton nabatyagan. It calls for our joint efforts nga mangin preparado,” said Bacolod City Mayor Greg Gasataya in a social media post, noting that the City DRRM Office (CDRRMO) is open to assisting private establishments assess the integrity of their buildings.
While no significant damages were reported by local DRRM offices (LDRRMOs) in Western Visayas and the NIR, the public is advised to maintain vigilance and preparedness as aftershocks continue to strike Cebu.
In its Earthquake Information No. 2, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said that the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rocked north of Bogo City, Cebu was only five kilometers deep, hence the more intense shaking and destructive force.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines has placed the Visayas grid on Yellow Alert, with the operating margin insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
As of October 1, according to NGCP, 27 plants are on forced outage due to the earthquake, 16 others have been unavailable even before the incident; while 1 other is running on derated capacity, for a total of 1654.7 megawatts (MW) unavailable to the grid with available capacity of 1888 MW versus the 1839 MW peak demand. (PIA Negros Occidental)