Quake deaths forgotten, but lessons remain

BAGUIO CITY—Over a thousand people died on July 16 26 years ago when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake toppled houses and buildings in the summer capital. Families fled and investments disappeared as quickly as tourists.

Judging by a low-key memorial on Saturday at a forest planted with “earthquake trees,” this generation of Baguio residents has forgotten that devastation.

But officials insist the government bureaucracy has made sure it remembers—and learns from—the tragedy as the new century brought new towering buildings and a spike in migrants.

Shortly after the quake, residents who stayed helped enact a new rebuilding plan, anchored on a conservative notion that the city’s building skyline should go no higher than four stories.

Since 1999, however, the city building and architects’ office (CBAO) has issued 19,720 building permits. Some of the structures went as high as seven stories, towering over downtown Session Road and the fringes of the central business district.

Retired city architect Joseph Alabanza, an urban planner, had advocated a policy that would bar high-rise buildings in downtown Baguio, primarily to decongest the city by redirecting investments to neighboring Benguet towns.

In 2010, the city population grew to 318,676 people that had taxed resources like water and had worsened traffic jams, especially in the central business district.

Many residents remain fearful about tall structures due to lingering fears about the quake.

But engineer Felimar Calimlim, chief of CBAO’s engineering enforcement division, said lessons from the earthquake have improved city policy on constructions. He said regulations now require a more thorough inspection of lands before approving building permits.

Lands that will hold buildings taller than three stories are required to undergo soil tests, he said.

Bonifacio de la Peña, a professor of the Saint Louis University here, said the requirement for geotechnical evaluation would help the building owner “determine the type of foundation [that is mandated] for a proposed structure,” to guide his architects and engineers.

But a former city administrator said Baguio needs to study if the mountain city is ready for tall buildings. Councilor Peter Fianza, who served as administrator under Mayor Braulio Yaranon, said he saw the value of building higher, not wider structures.

He said Baguio has a total land area of 57 square kilometers, a third of which have been classified as inalienable government reservations. “If we limit the height of buildings too much, then we will end up occupying every space there is in the city,” he said.

He said Baguio must still study the nature of earthquakes that are likely to strike the city in the future and the ground condition of sites for tall buildings. Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon, and Danielle Uy