DILG to pilot-test infra audit tool to prepare for the ‘Big One’
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) announced that it will pilot-test a tool to assess the structural integrity of buildings in Metro Manila to prepare for a major earthquake, or the “Big One.”
The “Big One” is a potential earthquake in the West Valley Fault, a fault line running through Metro Manila and neighboring provinces.
“[T]he tool, which will help LGUs (local government units) identify the priority structures subject to infra audits, will be pilot-tested in the National Capital Region, Region III (Central Luzon), and Calabarzon,” the DILG said in a statement on Wednesday.
“[T]he Department also partnered with the academe to tap fourth-year and fifth-year engineering students to help assess the infrastructures,” the DILG added.
DILG Undersecretary for Local Government Marlo Iringan said in the statement that the tool is called the “Harmonized Infrastructure Audit Tool.”
“This tool will establish a national standard for assessing local public infrastructures, particularly their vulnerability to high-magnitude earthquakes,” Iringan explained.
The department’s statement came after it participated in the Office of Civil Defense’s (OCD) 2nd Earthquake Preparedness Summit on Tuesday.
READ: The ‘Big One’ and substandard rebars: A killer mix
After a devastating magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck Myanmar and other parts of Southeast Asia last March 28, the OCD warned that substandard steel in buildings and other structures risks lives if a similar quake hits Metro Manila.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake along the West Valley Fault could lead to the collapse of at least 168,000 buildings and the death of at least 33,000 people in Metro Manila and neighboring provinces, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
