Multi-hazard physical vulnerability prioritization of school infrastructure in the Philippines

The Philippines is one of the most hazard-prone countries in the world. It is regularly subjected to various hazard events, imposing loss of lives and costly damage to the country's infrastructure. In particular, the Philippines straddles a region of complex tectonics at the intersection of three major tectonic plates (the Philippine Sea, Sunda and Eurasia plates). As such, the country is frequently exposed to large and damaging earthquakes. For instance, one of the most recent destructive earthquakes, the M 7.2 Bohol and Cebu earthquake (2013), damaged more than 73,000 structures, of which more than 14,500 were totally destroyed, including several schools. According to the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), about 25,000 preschoolers and 275,855 school children in 1,200 early learning centers and 1,092 schools (931 elementary schools and 161 high schools) were affected by the earthquake. Similarly, several areas characterized by high wind and heavy rain exist along the northeast Philippine Sea coast. In 1991, a flash flood killed around 8,000 people and distracted many structure in Leyte Island. Furthermore, Typhoon Haiyan (2013), known as Super Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, has been one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, which devastated several portions of the country, killing at least 6,300 people. According to the Philippine's Department of Education (DepEd), Yolanda damaged 3,171 schools. The recent history of reported damage and destruction indicates the substantial vulnerability of the country's infrastructure, particularly schools, to different forms of natural hazards.

Conference Name: Eleventh U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (11NCEE) Meeting Name: Eleventh U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (11NCEE) Publisher: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute