MANILA, Philippines – In a bid to raise government and public awareness on the need to prepare against natural calamities, Las Piñas Rep. Mark Villar has filed House Resolution No. 1072 calling on Congress to look into the country’s preparedness against earthquakes following the devastating earthquake that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. “The resolution will direct the appropriate House committees to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, on the country’s vulnerability and preparedness against earthquake and other related calamities,” Rep Villar said.
A 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern coast of Japan which unleashed a killer tsunami and was followed by more than 100 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan described the incident as Japan’s worst crisis since the end of World War II.
Villar said that the Philippines, similar to Japan, lies on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 nations.
“Scientific experts from the Philippines and abroad have already warned us the possibility of the next big earthquake happening in our country and it is about time we look into our disaster risk preparedness and capacity to respond to these natural disasters,” Villar said.
According to reports, if an earthquake with a magnitude of 7 or higher hits Manila, the death toll may reach 35,000, some 120,000 people may be injured while around 175,000 buildings will be damaged.
