Philippines: High-rise disaster threats

"We have too many structures with poor building standard. We have too many structures in poor soil. We have no contingency plan. We have little preparedness. We cannot help ourselves much in times of need,” said United Nations International Strategy's regional coordinatior for Asia Pacific, Jerry Velasquez, expressing deep concern about a potentially massive earthquake that could also hit the Philippines, in a recent interview with Marichu Villanueva.

“We can’t help everybody but we can focus on a few things that can help. I hope I can now start schools and hospitals inspection and retrofitting in a few cities in Manila, starting with Makati (because they are willing),” he went on to say.