CEO: No major damage on bldgs, infras after quakes

By Jason B. Neola

The Naga City Engineer’s Office (CEO) has certified that all of the buildings and infrastructures it inspected from Friday to Monday (Oct. 15-18) bear no major damage brought about by the earthquake swarm that hit the city and its neighboring towns for the last five days or from Oct. 14 until Oct. 18, this year.

An earthquake swarm is a sequence of seismic events occurring in a local area within a relatively short period of time.

Naga City and its environs felt successive tremors for 18 times beginning Oct. 14 at around 10:08 PM until Monday, Oct. 18.

Engr. Elmer Albo, assistant city engineer, said the first set of structures they assessed for possible damages were the Naga Metropolitan Cathedral, Our Lady of Peñafrancia Shrine, the Naga City People’s Mall, and the Camarines Sur National High School’s Gabaldon building, the latter having been built during the American colonial era.

He said they did not find serious damages that warrant repairs or rehabilitation on public school buildings in the barangays of Sabang, Tabuco, Peñafrancia, Sta. Cruz, Liboton, and Carolina.

“As we pursue our assessment task for several days more, we hope that all buildings in the city are in good shape and pose no harm to anyone,” Albo said.

EARTHQUAKE DRILL. Thousands of students from the Camarines Sur National High School occupy the main road of Barangay Peñafrancia during a fire-earthquake simulation exercise in August 2018. The drill, which drew overwhelming participation from public and private schools, was conducted in anticipation to the so-called “The Big One,” a disaster imagination of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake feared to happen in the Philippines that lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, home of several tectonic plate boundaries. JBN/REY BAYLON/CEPPIO file photo

The team reported a “manageable” damage on the small portion of the concrete roof of the second floor of the hall of Barangay Mabolo. The facility, however, is about to be demolished several months from now due to road widening project of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

Mayor Nelson Legacion told newsmen that his office will request assistance from DPWH in assessing the worthiness of all bridges, riprap and flood-control structures in the city. He also encouraged all building owners to check their structures and shops for damage.

Due to a series of earthquakes, Legacion said that he is not brushing off the possibility of experiencing again the same phenomena days or weeks ahead.

He said that all concerned offices like the Public Safety Office, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO), Bureau of Fire Protection, and the Naga City Police Office and its six stations were placed on heightened alert status ready for deployment and to take actions to ensure the safety and well-being of Nagueños.