Mindanao schools crumble after quakes
Solon seeks probe as Deped says 1,047 schools in four regions damaged, destroyed by temblors
KIDAPAWAN CITY—A lawmaker fro mm indanao has called for ah ouse probe of the massive destruction of school buildings an dot her facilities in the region due tot he series of earthquakes last month, saying many of these were newly constructed and could have withstood intense ground shaking.
Agusan d el N orte Rep. Lawrence Lemuel Fortun, a membe ro f t heh ouse committee o nm indanao affairs, said the investigation must cover t heg overnment’s schoo lbu ildi ng p rogram i nl igh to f the quake-induce dd evastation in Mindanao. The series o fea rthquakes killed 24 people, injured more than 500 and left at least 10 m issing, mostly believe d to be buried by landslides triggered by the temblors.
“I ti s ve ry alarming. How co mem os to f the [newly built] schools in t he a rea incurred damages? These schoo l bu ildings are suppose dto be disaste rr esilient ,”F ortun asked.
Although he did not cit ef igures, Fortun sa id i nformation reachi ng h i m sh owe dt ha tt he cos to fc onstructing these new structures was higher compared to o lder buildings because of what he described as their disaste rr esiliency features.
These schoo lbu ildings were made of durable materials and
WRECKED Students of San Isidro Elementary School in Makilala town, Cotabato, are left without classrooms after strong earthquakes last month destroyed school buildings in several provinces in Mindanao. were suppose dto withstand extreme conditions, including the impac to fcl imate change, he said.
Damage at P3.3B
Ac ompilation of rapid assessmen tr eports sen t to t he National Disaster Risk Reductio nan d Management Council accounted close to 2,000 schools that sustained varying degrees of damage due tot he series o fea rthquakes that jolted Mindanao last month.
On Tuesday, the Department of Education (Deped )sa id 1,047 schools were destroyed by the quakes, wit hp roperty damage estimated at P3.3 billion.
Soccsksargen (Sout hc otabato ,C otabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, General Santos) region suffere dt hem ost with 670 schools damage d or d estroyed. It was followed by Dava or egion, with 274 schools; Norther nm indanao, 82; and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 21.
In K idapawan City, the series of tremors last month damage dord estroyed 65 of the city’s 83 schools.
An assessment by Deped engineer s sh owed 93 classrooms were destroyed, 308 had maj ord amage, and 312 had min ord amage. Three new buildings o fk idapawan Cit yna tional H igh Schoo l we re declared off-limits due to structural integrity questions.
Mayor Joseph Evangelista said he was surprise dt hat most of the schoo l bu ildings that suffered heavy damage were newly built.
Design problem?
“I’ve talke dtot he mayors of Tulunan and Makilala (i nc otabato province), and I su rmised that all of their new [school] buildings suffere d d amage—mos to f the ceilings collapsed, ther ewe re sever al c racks on t he c olumns, an dt he walls also gave way,” Evangelist a sa id.
“We think there i sap roblem in the design, something must be wro ng w ith the design. I don’t wan tto cas tdo ubt s,f or now, on t he c ontractors. Bu tt hese should be l ooke di nto ,”hea dded.
In Ozami zc ity, teachers and students of Ozami zc ity National High Schoo lsa id large cracks were observe di na t least 20 classrooms, mos to f these newly built ,f ollowing the Oct. 31 earthquake.
Fortun saw the nee dto look into how the Departmen t of Publi cw orks and Highways implemente dt hec onstruction of schoo lbu ildings.
“D id t he c ontractor sf ollow standard s?ifn ot ,h o wc ome they were able to pass the scrutiny of the DPWH?” Fortun asked.