DILG-E. Visayas releases ‘build back better’ monitoring checklist

TACLOBAN CITY, Oct. 31  -- The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) in Region 8 (Eastern Visayas) has released the build back better (BBB) monitoring checklist in a bid to improve the quality and resiliency of all government vertical structures.

Specifically, the checklist applies to government buildings, school buildings, houses, hospitals and health centers, transport buildings, civil buildings, and agricultural structures.

DILG assistant regional director Artemio Caneja said Tuesday that the seven-page checklist is a product of various consultations, brainstorming and workshops of DILG engineers, selected members of the Regional Project Monitoring Committee, the project monitoring body of the Regional Development Council.

“We came up with an improved monitoring tool that would assess the conformity of the buildings to the local and international codes, principles, and standard of disaster resiliency and recovery,” Caneja said.

A committee will use the tool to determine if the infrastructures are designed, planned, and properly implemented during monitoring visits. The tool reflects the build back better concept, quality assurance tools, and monitoring template provided by DILG-Office of Project Development Services.

Caneja emphasized the need for BBB monitoring checklist in the region considering that occurrence of natural and man-made disasters had increased dramatically, resulting in extensive damage to buildings.

Citing the 2014 study by the 4th International Conference on Building Resilience, many buildings collapsed during disasters due to inadequate structural capacity of the built environment.

“The built environment plays a significant role in providing protection to people and different facilities. Therefore, when structures are built, one must take into consideration the different factors that might weaken the project’s built environment,” the DILG official said.

The destruction of built environment may be attributed to inaccuracy of the structural design, lack of consideration for climate change, disaster awareness in the community, and non-earthquake resistant building design.

The production of monitoring tool is part of the central government’s BBB initiative, which aims to empower local authorities and communities to incorporate planning, consultation, analysis, and design, in post-disaster recovery. (SQM/PNA)