Baguio City (CNN Philippines) – For Baguio City, a highly urbanized and densely populated city, the rush for progress has seemingly covered the dark memory of the killer quake that struck Luzon on July 16, 1990.
Rapid urbanization here has consumed almost all of the remaining forest cover, putting the environment under threat. A burgeoning population shows the mushrooming of houses and towering buildings.
The city that serves as the regional administrative center of the Cordillera Administrative Region, the educational center of the North, and a prime tourist destination has always been a natural settlement magnet with 40% of its population increase traced to urban migration.
This has caused both formal and informal settlements to grow on the outskirts of the city and move out towards the boundaries of the adjacent municipalities. With a limited land area, the rugged mountainous topography, the critical environment of the city being a seismic hazard, and the city’s inability to provide adequate water supply, there is a need to strategically manage this urban sprawl.
After the earthquake, the Sangguniang Panlungsod of the city crafted and approved the Baguio zoning ordinance limiting the height of commercial buildings at 19.5 meters or 6 stories, while the National Building Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 1096) sets a 5-story ceiling.
However, towering buildings more than the ceiling limit sprawled over the years not only in Baguio’s central business district. Condominiums, hotels, apartments, and houses among others have mushroomed, violating the city zoning ordinance and the national building code.
But Mayor Mauricio Domogan said that “contrary to perceptions that high rise structures are banned in the city due to alleged geological disadvantages,” he explained the determination of the height of a building to be constructed in any part of the city will depend on the outcome of the soil tests to be conducted by experts so that the carrying capacity of the soil together with the use of the appropriate structural engineering methods and materials for a building will be established.
Domogan says findings of experts who repeatedly studied the situation after the earthquake showed the unfortunate destruction to buildings then, was due to alleged poor structural design, thus magnifying the earthquake damage.
In addition, Domogan said that limiting the heights of building in the city as provided in the zoning ordinance is no longer applicable. He cited a report from “experts” explaining that California, for instance, sits in an earthquake belt but buildings are up to 48 floors are allowed.
New building policy
In Baguio, among the towering buildings that collapsed when the killer quake struck are Hilltop Hotel, Hyatt Hotel, Nevada Hotel, and Baguio Park. Domogan said the Saint Louis University buildings had several floors but did not collapse.
He again cited a “finding of technical team from overseas – Great Britain, the U.S., and Japan” stating that defect in construction caused the big hotels to collapse.
Domogan narrated that in 1984, the construction of the Hyatt Hotel was found to be defective but accordingly, remedial measures were instituted to strengthen the building but they were proven wrong.
Hilltop Hotel on the other hand collapsed because in the permit issued, the site on which the building was built is only good for a four-storey structure but an additional four floors were constructed – floors not included in the design.
The Nevada Hotel which was designed to have just three stories but had more.
He also mentioned that owners of Baguio Park were advised by the local structural engineer of Baguio to pile since the capability of the soil to hold buildings is not good. But owners consulted their best engineer from the University of the Philippines who inspected the site and said that piling is not needed resulting to the hotel falling like an accordion when the earthquake happened.
Domogan said the policy in the city now is that constructions should follow the building code. Second, a soil test is now required to know the carrying capacity of the site before a building permit is issued by the city.
Third, danger zones as identified by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau are not allowed for building constructions.
Although rollers or earthquake proofing is not a requirement under the building code, Domogan advises that high buildings should institute this in their structures.
Piling of soil underneath foundations of buildings, he added, is also important for some areas. He cited Maharlika building was piled with soil below it that it was not affected during the earthquake.
Preparations for the next Big One
As a tourist town, Baguio has more than 20 multi-storey hotels and inns catering to thousands of tourists wanting to experience the cool weather and the unique culture of this mountain resort city.
Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) President Anthony De Leon, general manager of the Baguio Country Club, says the mushrooming of hotels and lodging facilities in Baguio is a sign that it has finally recovered from the earthquake that almost flattened it more than two decades ago.
But despite this rapid recovery and booming tourism industry, he says the memories of July 16, 1990 has kept residents including hotel owners that are members of HRAB regularly preparing for the Big One.
The HRAB hosted a seminar on Wednesday (July 15) on emergency preparedness and response to equip hotel and restaurant staff with knowledge and skills in preparing for disastrous events.
“Some property owners do not see the need to invest in safety. I think this is an area where a standard set-up for safety per the Building Code will cover the needs for actual emergencies,” De Leon said.
He cited the Fire Code of the Philippines, for example, does not require hotel owners to have fire safety manuals or form their own emergency response teams.
But he says many establishments, citing the Baguio Country Club which has its own fire truck and emergency response team, “ is a good marketing deal that assures guests of having safe buildings and properties.”
“It’s now enough that we assure our guests that we have this kind of facility and service, this type of food and thematic restaurants and this is not enough. But what gives guests that comfort is the assurance to them that they are safe inside the property,” he stressed.
He says many small establishments cannot however give this assurance of building safety adding the requirements set by the Fire Code, the Building Code and city ordinances are only minimal and are often not prioritized by these building owners.
Majority of those that collapsed during the earthquakes were hotels and residential buildings. This as he also stressed it is important for the property owners to invest in ensuring that buildings are fire and earthquake-proof.
Also, more than the equipment, what is most important is the training of personnel which he claims are among the first responders during times of disasters.
In Wednesday’s disaster preparedness training led by HRAB, Jaydhie Arevalo, a disaster risk reduction and management expert and responder stressed the importance of individual preparedness of individuals starting from the homes to the work place adding that disasters happen only when people are not prepared.
She said investing in disaster kits are important adding a bag containing essentials during disasters is a good investment than paying for medical bills or worse, losing a loved one.
