Check your walls; disaster preparedness starts at home

The magnitude 6.9 earthquake that rattled Cebu-its tremors felt in Negros, Iloilo, and beyond-is another stark reminder that disaster preparedness is nonnegotiable. Many believe that it is the government's job. True-but it is also, fundamentally, our personal responsibility. And it should start long before a disaster strikes (and not end with a go bag).

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For each family, the first line of defense is the home itself. How strong are its walls, beams, columns, and roof? Can they hold together when the ground shakes? Far too many Filipinos live in houses or buildings erected decades ago, structures that have already endured tremors that may have been shrugged off at the time. Cracks-even "scenic" ones we proudly show guests-are not just aesthetic relics of past quakes: they signal that the structural integrity has been compromised. That advice came from then Undersecretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. in Manila Bulletin's Hot Seat interview years ago-and it should be turned into a slogan: Check your walls.

Disaster preparedness begins at home.

Hiring a structural engineer to inspect and reinforce your home is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In the event of a strong quake, you do not want to gamble on guesswork. Yet too few of us take that step.

Then there is the go bag: probably the best-known element of disaster readiness. Water, canned food, medicine, a flashlight, radio, batteries, first aid-these are staples of what is recommended for a family to survive for three days or more after a disaster. But many people still pack these only once, then neglect them-never checking for expired medicine, dead batteries, or missing items. That's a critical oversight.