Rescue workers outside a building that was damaged in the recent Leyte earthquake (Photo: Philippines Red Cross)

By Brigitte Leoni

GENEVA, 11 July – International disaster prevention advocate Senator Loren Legarda has called for a strengthening of the resilience of critical infrastructure, in the wake of a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that hit Leyte in her homeland the Philippines last week.

The earthquake, which caused at least four deaths and injured 100 people,also damaged a power plant, caused landslides and cracked buildings and roads. It has been followed by more than 241 aftershocks over recent days.

Senator Legarda, UNISDR’s global champion for resilience and chair of the Philippines Senate Committee on Finance, said that while it is good that the government is undertaking earthquake preparedness measures through safety drills that familiarize citizens with what to do before, during and after earthquakes, ensuring the structural integrity of buildings, bridges, roads and other infrastructure is vital and must be prioritized.

“Earthquakes do not kill people; unsafe structures do. Earthquakes turn into major disasters because of poorly built buildings in inappropriate places, inadequate design and materials specification, and shortcuts in construction. Thus, inspection during the construction of both public and private infrastructure is important. We must realize that the additional expense required for making structures safe from earthquakes is worth it especially if it would save thousands of precious lives,” she stressed.

Reducing disaster damage to critical infrastructure is one of the seven targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, an international agreement adopted in 2015 at a UN conference in Japan. The Sendai Framework seeks through to 2030 to prevent the creation of new disaster risk and to curb existing risks around the world.

“There should be evaluation of the structural integrity of our buildings and civil infrastructure, including roads, bridges, airports, train stations and concrete measures for the retrofitting of critical infrastructure to withstand earthquakes,” Senator Legarda said, proposing provisions in the Philippines budget that would strengthen the country’s resilience to natural hazards.