Davao City has yet to move on from the recent two separate temblors in the past two weeks when Tuesday’s earthquake came. This time, it’s definitely bigger.
The damages left behind by the magnitude 6.6 quake, although the epicenter is in Tulunan, North Cotabato, is a strong statement that nature’s wrath is stronger than human technology. That no matter how much advances we make in construction, how high we have gone up in building structures, the earth’s movement is still more powerful and that anything that man can build it can destroy.
That’s the fact.
The many structures that were damaged also reverberates with a lesson that there is a need to be stricter in implementing the building code and that building inspections must regularly be made to check on the structural integrity.
Of the buildings affected, mostly damaged were school buildings. In nearby Magsaysay, Davao del Sur a student died after getting hit by a fallen debris as part of the school’s second floor and stairs collapsed. In Davao City, the Public Safety Office reported over 30 buildings damaged, most of these are public school buildings.
Moving forward, the city government has to implement massive building inspections especially the high-rise ones as there could be more damages in structures than has been reported. Damages may not manifest immediately or may even be not visible from the external.
For now, extra caution must be taken by everyone not only from the expected aftershocks but also from the information being shared.
