MANILA, Philippines鈥擳he Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) on Saturday (June 15) ordered all local government units to inspect public buildings, bridges, roads, health facilities, structures for shelters and other public infrastructure for safety ahead of a nationwide earthquake drill set on June 20.
In a statement, the DILG through spokesperson Jonathan Malaya, said a safety audit of public structures should give priority to facilities that are vital to local government operations, delivery of basic services and disaster response and relief operations.
The statement said results of the infrastructure audit should be submitted by the local government units (LGU) to DILG provincial offices which would send these to the DILG regional offices.
It added that LGUs should periodically check structural integrity of buildings and facilities owned by the government to make sure these were compliant with safety standards set by the National Building Code of the Philippines and the Fire Code of the Philippines.
The building code defines a dangerous building as a structure 鈥渄amaged by fire, earthquake, wind, flood or by any other cause to such an extent that the structural integrity or the stability鈥� of the building is 鈥渕aterially less than what it was before the catastrophe and is less than the minimum requirements鈥� of the code.
The DILG statement also urged all local officials to take part in the second quarterly nationwide earthquake drill on June 20.
Local governments, the DILG statement added, 鈥渟hould always observe maximum or extreme preparedness rather than employ a calibrated response not just for typhoons but also for earthquakes and other types of disasters.鈥�
鈥淭his approach will save more lives and further reduce the number of casualties,鈥� it said. (Editor: Tony Bergonia)