About 70 to 80 percent of the City of Manila’s population is ready when the “Big One” earthquake or similar disaster comes, Mayor Joseph Estrada stressed yesterday.
Estrada issued the statement following a magnitude 5.0 earthquake that rocked General Nakar in Quezon provinces last November 10, which was felt in the National Capital Region, including Manila.
“For three and a half years since I was elected as mayor, we have intensified our disaster preparedness program because we don’t know when it will happen,” said Estrada.
Manila’s rescue and emergency units are now fully equipped and trained “as we have invested heavily in equipment, machines and vehicles for immediate use when a disaster strikes,” the mayor said.
Disaster readiness and resiliency is one of Estrada’s priority programs, and the city government has poured in over P600 million for continuous disaster risk reduction and response capability building at the grassroots level.
Citing the typhoons “Ondoy” and “Yolanda” that hit the country and inundated Manila in 2009 and 2013 respectively, Estrada said every local government should be prepared for the “Big One.”
“We should not be caught off guard by super typhoons and other calamities, such as earthquakes. We ought to be prepared to avert the loss of lives, millions of lives,” Estrada said.
The Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office reported that it has formed community response teams in every barangay in the city, composed of 2,000 volunteers.
“At ‘yung may mga areas na may request, mga schools, mga hospitals ‘yun ‘yung mga tinuturuan namin ngayon para mas dumami ang volunteers and at the same time, they will know what to do kung may sakuna,” explained Johnny Yu, MDRRMO officer-in-charge.
In case of the expected “Big One”—a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake, by definition of local disaster experts—the MetroManila Development Authority had said that most parts of the City of Manila would be destroyed by huge fires or swept away by hundred-meter tall tsunamis, causing deaths and massive destruction.
Based on the 2004 Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study made by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the MMDA and Japan International Cooperation Agency, there would be 35,000 deaths in Metro Manila in the first hour alone, over 100,000 injured, and at least 500 instantaneous fires, most of which would be in Manila. Sandy Araneta
The study details the seemingly end-of-the-world situation when a powerful quake hits the NCR as a result of the sudden movement of the West Valley Fault.
Because Manila is an old city with hundreds of dilapidated wooden structures and large parts below sea level, the MMDA pointed out that the city is “most vulnerable” to inferno-like fires, as well as flooding and a tsunami from Manila Bay.
Based on the study’s Urban Vulnerability against Earthquake Damage, the Manila North Port Area, South-Eastern Manila, and Central Manila Bay Area are “most vulnerable to flammability” and evacuation would be “very difficult.”
In this scenario, 170,000 residential houses would collapse, fires would burn approximately 1,710 hectares of land and properties, and 18,000 additional persons will be killed by the secondary disaster, the study added.
Meanwhile, Estrada is expected to make a major announcement on Wednesday at the Bulwagang Villegas of the Manila City Hall about his efforts to finally solve the city’s traffic problem.
This will also coincide with the launching of the Manila “traffic super body” composed of the Department of Public Safety (DPS), Manila Police District-Traffic Enforcement Unit (MPD-TEU), Manila Tricycle Regulatory Office, Office of the City Engineer, Manila Barangay Bureau, City Treasurer’s Office, and the Manila City Hall Action and Support Assignment (MASA).
Local transport groups, including truckers associations, Parents-Teachers Associations (PTAs), city councilors, and barangay officials would also be part of the proposed body along with port operators International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) and Asian Terminals, Inc. (ATI).