Naga to bid repairs of quake affected market

By Jason B. Neola

The City Government of Naga (CGN) is preparing the documents for the procurement of rehabilitation works of the 51-year-old Naga City People’s Mall following reports that the structure’s ramp and beams showed some cracks when a 4.2 magnitude quake hit the city on Saturday, Oct. 23.

The repair works, which was described by the CGN as urgent and vital, was prompted by Mayor Nelson Legacion’s instructions to the City Engineer’s Office (CEO) to undertake immediate appropriate actions to ensure the safety of the market occupants and customers.

The CEO is in the process of preparing a technical report containing its recommendations including cost estimates of the damage to the city’s public market after the visual inspections undertaken by a CEO team.

Councilor Vidal P. Castillo, chair of the Committee on Infrastructure and the Committee on Market Affairs of the Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP), said a program of works will follow after the planned renovation has gone through the required procedures. The SP has invited technical experts to determine the extent of damage and the funds to be allocated for the repair works.

QUAKE DAMAGE. Technical personnel of the City Engineer’s Office found more than 11 instances of damage on the concrete beams of the Naga City People’s Mall after a 4.2 magnitude quake hit the city on Oct. 23. JBN/REYBAYLON/CEPPIO

Based on the estimation of a City Hall official, the city needs some P3 to 4 million for the market repair. In the meantime, the damaged parts will be suuported with steel columns that will serve as reinforcements.

Series of tremors or an earthquake swarm began to hit the city in the evening of Oct. 14 with a 4.2 magnitude. It was followed by 19 more with magnitudes ranging from 4.2, 4.3, 2.2, 2.1, 2.4, 2.7, 1.8, 1.7, 3.2, 3.4, 3.3, 3.5, 2.5, 2.8, and 3.8.

While the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) in Bicol is still in the process of establishing the Canaman fault line, its earthquake bulletin however said that the epicenter of the tremors can be located in that tiny municipality except for the quake that hit last Oct. 25 at around 3:49 AM with an epicenter traced from the town of Tinambac, some 50 kilometers away from Naga.

With the series of tremors hitting the city the past several days, Councilor Joselito S.A. del Rosario said he is endorsing to the Office of the City Mayor the re-staging of different activities such as basic life support trainings, earthquake and fire drills and other simulation exercises to further improve the city government’s handling of disaster management.

“In that way, we can be able to help also our constituents to make themselves ready for the crises and calamities we are experiencing these days,” Del Rosario said.