Is your house quake-resilient? Check out this app

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology (DOST-Phivolcs) has reminded the public to use a mobile app that it developed several years ago and is readily accessible, to check the structural integrity of their homes.

“We’ve developed an app – How Safe is My House?”  Science Secretary Renato Solidum said Tuesday on One News’ “The Chiefs.”

He said the app could help people determine if their house is sturdy in case of earthquakes, whether it’s one to two-story, concrete hollow block house or made of flimsier materials.

The app is available for download on Google Play and Apple IOS phone.

“It’s very simple. It asks 12 questions to guide one in assessing the structural integrity of their home,” he said.

He said the quality of design and construction of a structure affected the susceptibility of a house or building, which may cause it to collapse during a high-intensity earthquake.

With the high death toll caused by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Solidum said Filipinos should look into the structural integrity of their homes.

He expressed concern on the apparent widespread misconception among Filipinos that only medium- to high-rise buildings are vulnerable to collapse during strong earthquakes.

Solidum said there was also a huge risk to one- or two-story houses and buildings, especially those built before the 1990s without guidance of engineers and architects.

The widespread collapse of small buildings and homes during the so-called Big One that may hit Luzon from a movement of the West Valley Fault could cause massive death and destruction, experts have said.

“Tall buildings, medium to high rise, these are expected to be closely supervised by engineers and architects in their construction,” Solidum said in a virtual interview on “The Chiefs” on One News.

“Many low rise buildings are old, (thus) are non-engineered,” he pointed out. “That’s because our impression is these need not be prepared structurally, but that’s where many will die.”

He pointed out that high rise and medium rise buildings are heavier, which makes them more resilient to ground shaking during major earthquakes.

Fewer prepared

The number of Filipinos who said they are prepared for strong typhoons and earthquakes has declined over the years, according to surveys conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The survey data on disaster preparedness was among those presented by SWS vice president Jay Sandoval during the 2023 SWS Survey Review held at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati on Tuesday.

In his presentation, Sandoval noted the decline in the number of survey respondents who said that they were “very prepared” for a strong typhoon or earthquake.

From 47 percent in December 2019, the percentage of Filipinos who said that they were “very prepared” for a typhoon as strong as Super Typhoon Yolanda dropped to 29 percent in December 2022.

It was at 36 percent in September 2015, 35 percent in September 2017 and 39 percent in September 2019.

Meanwhile, those who said that they were “somewhat prepared” for a strong typhoon increased from 30 percent in December 2019 to 43 percent in December 2022.

It was at 37 percent in September 2015 and 34 percent in September 2017 and September 2019.

Last December, those who said they were “somewhat not prepared” or “not prepared at all” for a strong typhoon were at 18 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

It increased from 14 percent and nine percent in the December 2019 survey.

Based on the data presented by Sandoval, unpreparedness for a strong typhoon reached its highest in 2017 when 17 percent said they were “somewhat not prepared” and another 13 percent said they were “not prepared at all.”

Meanwhile, only 18 percent of the respondents in the December 2022 survey said they were “very prepared” for an earthquake as strong as the magnitude 7.2 that hit Cebu and Bohol in 2013.

It was down from the 35 percent obtained in a similar survey conducted in December 2019. It was at 30 percent in September 2015 and September 2019 and 26 percent in September 2017.

Those who said that they were “somewhat prepared” for a strong earthquake was at 34 percent last December, up from 32 percent in September 2015, 29 percent in September 2017, 26 percent in September 2019 and 25 percent in December 2019.

Unpreparedness for a strong earthquake reached its highest in recent years last December, with 26 percent saying they were “somewhat not prepared” and 22 percent saying they were “not prepared at all.”

Those who were “somewhat not prepared” for a strong earthquake were at 23 percent in September 2015, 22 percent in September 2017 and 21 percent in September and December 2019.

In September 2015, only 15 percent of the respondents said they were “not prepared at all” for a strong earthquake. It increased to 22 percent in September 2017 and September 2019 surveys and 19 percent in December 2019.

SWS has yet to release the full details of its most recent survey on disaster preparedness, including the geographic breakdown of responses.

Nuclear tools

The nuclear unit of the Department of Science and Technology, DOST-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI), will help its sister unit Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) improve capabilities in monitoring the country’s various seismic and volcanic faults and landforms.

PNRI and Phivolcs had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen research collaboration on the applications of nuclear science and technology in the fields of volcanology and seismology last Jan. 25.

The partnership signals the joint initiatives of the two DOST agencies to harmonize their efforts to address disaster risk reduction and management in line with the current administration’s thrust to pursue the OneDOST4U advocacy to better improve delivery of public service.

Under the MOU, the PNRI and Phivolcs will focus and venture together on projects related to the fields of geochemistry, isotopic techniques, volcanism, active faults, geothermal and volcano-hydrothermal.

Both institutions agreed to share their respective pool of experts, resources, equipment, facilities and other information relevant to the project. – Janvic Mateo