NHA houses are earthquake-safe – Phivolcs

MANILA, Philippines – The low-cost housing units of the National Housing Authority (NHA) have been cleared by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and could withstand earthquakes, the agency’s general manager clarified Wednesday.

When asked in a Radyo Inquirer 990AM interview about the concerns on the quality of the houses following the earthquakes which struck the country, Lawyer Chito Cruz,  general manager of the housing agency, said that before they construct houses, they would secure clearances for Phivolcs confirming that they were putting up the house at locations far from earthquake faults.

Meanwhile, Cruz also said that they have been studying the NHA houses in E. Rodriguez Rizal that were heavily affected by the southwest monsoon rains, saying that engineering measure were being put in place to check whether the site was still viable for housing construction.

He said that residents who have complained have been relocated to other housing sites and that when they would be sure that it would not be safe for them to be back to the sites in Rizal, they would no longer let them go back.