City disaster office pushes for quake preparation plan

CEBU, Philippines —  Taking a cue from the unfortunate incident in Myanmar recently, the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council wants the Cebu City government to prepare ahead for a major earthquake.

Although there is now an early warning system for earthquakes, it does not predict accordingly.

It, however, gets to detect ground motion when the earthquake begins and quickly send alerts that a tremor is on its way, giving people crucial seconds to prepare.

With this, the CCDRRMC led by its new chairman Ramil Ayuman, wants the city government to prepare ahead of time and not only when the incident is already happening.

The last major earthquake that hit the city was in 2013, although the epicenter was in Bohol, it was strong enough to affect Cebu City as well.

 CCDRRMC is asking all concerned offices of their respective plans in case a quake hits Cebu anew especially after the unfortunate incident that happened in Myanmar.

 Myanmar was hit by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake last March 28, 2025 that saw 3,000 individuals and over 4,500 injured while many are still reported missing.

CCDRRMC latest meeting involved the likes of the Cebu City Police Office, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Navy, Metro Cebu Water District, Visayan Electric, Philippine National Red Cross, Bureau of Fire Protection, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Department of Science and Technology, Department of the  Interior and Local Government, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc., along with the City’s CCDRRM Office, Department of Social Welfare and Services, Department of Engineering and Public Works; Management Information and Computer Services, Department of General Services and the Liga ng mga Barangays in the City, a report from the city’s Public Information Office revealed.

Ayuman, said that the disaster plan submitted by the different offices and government agencies will be utilized for the planned Cebu City Earthquake Disaster Summit.

 The CCDRMC also plans to organize a disaster drill in possible high-risk areas in the city.

 They want the drill to be conducted at night with a major earthquake as its scenario.

 The CCDRMC will wait for the City’s Planning and Development Office and the Office of the Building Official for the identification of high-risk areas for earthquakes.

 “Mag-agad gyud sa City Planning (and Development Office) ug OBO (Office of the Building Official) sa pag-identify sa lugar nga high-risk,” Ayuman said.

 Earlier, the DILG said that it is also set to launch an infrastructure audit tool to assess structural integrity of buildings to assess the structural integrity of buildings in preparation for the possibility of a large-magnitude earthquake.

 This Harmonized Infrastructure Audit tool will be utilized to ensure the resilience of buildings in the country against earthquakes.(CEBU NEWS)

The tool is expected to help local government units identify the priority structures subject to infrastructure audits.