Senate probes PHL disaster preparedness

Two Senate committees — environment and natural resources and climate change — on Wednesday began their investigation into the government's preparedness against natural disasters similar to the magnitude-9 earthquake that recently hit Japan. In her opening statement, climate change committee chairman Senator Loren Legarda said the Senate inquiry aims to assess the state of earthquake and tsunami preparedness of the Philippines. "We shall focus on the technical aspects of our local disaster preparedness... as well as the state of the country’s early warning system for disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes," she said. The senators also want to assess the "structural integrity" of the country's buildings and civil infrastructures and determine if there had been a retrofitting of critical infrastructures to withstand disasters, she said. She added they want to determine whether the country's utilities have back-up systems that are needed in times of disasters. Among the resource persons present during the hearing was Public Works Sec. Rogelio Singson. Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) director Renato Solidum is also expected to join the inquiry on Wednesday. - VVP, GMA News