A call for earthquake awareness and preparedness by Floreen Simon

Nations have witnessed how powerful earthquakes can be. The 1990 Luzon earthquake and the 1976 Moro Gulf earthquake, as far as Filipinos can remember, are two of the most grueling experiences of the country. Both registered the highest magnitude recorded in Philippine history. But either did not even make it to the world’s ten most powerful earthquakes. For even if the 7.9-magnitude earthquakes destroyed lifelines and structures and claimed a number of lives, none did not equate to the effects of the 10th most powerful earthquake in the world, which occurred in Assam Tibet on August 15, 1950. On the said earthquake, the Guardian writes, “Seventy villages simply disappeared in the string of disasters generated by an earthquake with an epicentre in Tibetan Rima but which wrought most destruction in India’s Assam state. Across the region, landslides claimed the lives of 1,526 people and rendered parts of the landscape unrecognisable from the air…”¹ More so, either will not equate with the devastating effects of the most powerful earthquake in history that occurred in Chile on May 22, 1960. On the incident, the United States Geological Society (USGS) wrote, “Approximately 1,655 killed, 3,000 injured, 2,000,000 homeless, and $550 million damage in southern Chile; tsunami caused 61 deaths, $75 million damage in Hawaii; 138 deaths and $50 million damage in Japan; 32 dead and missing in the Philippines; and $500,000 damage to the west coast of the United States.”²

a house destroyed by the 1994 Mindoro earthquake

Most recently, we were fazed with a number of major earthquakes. The USGS records show that two major earthquakes have already been documented for the year. First was a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that occurred on February 21 at the South Island of New Zealand killing 406 individuals. The second was the March 11 earthquake near the East Coast of Honshu, Japan, which registered a magnitude of 9.0 and claimed the lives of at least 28,050 individuals.³  The latter is now listed as the 4th most powerful earthquake in history.

In 2010, five earthquake incidents claimed lives, namely: Haiti earthquake on January 12, Chile earthquake on February 27, Eastern Turkey earthquake on March 8, Mexico earthquake on April 4, and China earthquake on April 14. That of Chile is recorded as the 6th most powerful earthquake in history.

What else is new then? Even if recent earthquakes belong to the most powerful ones in history – what difference does that make? Nothing.

Days after each major earthquake incident, a growing interest on earthquake preparedness rises. Nations start checking theircontingency plans. Businesses review their continuity plans. Earthquake drills are conducted. Preparedness reminders are aired. After a month or so, the interest dies down; everything returns to its “normal” state.

At the community level, initiatives are seldom organized into a wide-scale earthquake preparedness campaign. Drills may be conducted here and there, but these are hardly sustained.
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The Center for Disaster Preparedness develops a tool for children to participate in risk assessment and planning by Jesusa Grace J. Molina, CDP Center Coordinator

Children are among the most vulnerable groups in times of disaster. To promote children’s participation in disaster risk reduction, the Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) developed a toolkit called Child-Oriented Participatory Risk Assessment and Planning (COPRAP). The toolkit uses participatory and creative methods such as role playing, drawing, interactive discussion, and workshops to allow children to determine elements-at-risk; identify safe and unsafe locations; determine appropriate behaviors and responses before, during, and after a disaster; and identify other issues which threaten them. This toolkit was then tested on children aged 7-13 years old living in the flood prone area of Barangay Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal.

How it started

CDP advocates a child-oriented disaster risk reduction (DRR) approach. Through the ProVention Consortium Research Grants, CDP was able to do an action research project entitled Mobilization of Children and Youth to Offset Vulnerabilities for Empowerment or MOVE. This aimed to build the capacity of young individuals through raising awareness, enhancing skills, and encouraging values formation so that they become empowered actors in disaster risk reduction. This was carried out in a core group of children and youth between 9-17 years old who were living in a high risk flood zone in the community of Barangay Banaba, San Mateo, Rizal. This core group was then named Buklod ng Kabataan [BK] which means ”children bonded together.” They became one of the lead implementors of the research project activities. In the span of 14 months, the children and youth became attuned to vulnerability reduction and environmental protection concepts and were involved in risk reduction activities such as Participatory Risk Assessment, DRR Action Planning, and DRR Training and Advocacy.
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by Arlene Lusterio

Taiwan is located north of the Philippines and is the recipient of many typhoons that leave the country. It is also sandwiched between the Luzon-Philippine and Euro-Asia tectonic plates. Taiwan is exposed to four out of five natural hazards: typhoon, flood, earthquake and debris flow. Some of the worst disasters that have hit Taiwan are the Chi-Chi Earthquake on September 21, 1999 which had a magnitude of 7.3; the flooding due to Typhoon Nari in 2001 which shut down subway systems and the function of the whole city of Taipei; and debris flow in Central Taiwan in 2004.

The Taiwanese have strived to learn from these disasters. For example, the damage done by the 1999 earthquake has been preserved in the Earthquake Museum (left photo) in Tai Chung City. The actual ruins of a school housed in the museum show how buildings respond to seismic forces. Findings from research on the ruins of the earthquake have served as guides in structural designs of buildings after 1999.

An Emergency Operations Center was also established in each city to respond to emergency situations and serve as a hub for emergency operations. For example, Taipei has an Emegency Operations Center (EOC) housed in a building built just for disaster response, which can withstand an intensity 7 earthquake. It uses top of line technology and real time monitoring of emergency situations with support from scientists and technical experts from the National Taiwan University. It has a conference room where experts can meet in times of disaster and a special room for the commander or the county mayor. It has a 24-hour monitoring system, and disaster response can be initiated with back up power supply. They even have sleeping quarters so the emergency operations staff can work in shifts.

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