Ecuador's Earthquake Preparedness Plan

Ecuador is a country located in the northwest part of South America and is one of the earthquake-prone countries in the world. The country sits on the edge of the South American Plate, beside with the Nazca Plate, which results in strong earthquakes in the country. Both plates converge with each other, resulting to the subduction of the Nazca Plate with the South American Plate. Ecuador’s infrastructures are usually built on soft soil, specifically alluvium. Alluvium soils are loose and incompact accumulation of sands, silts, clays, or gravels deposited in rivers. Many cities in Ecuador are built on soft soils because these are flat and easy to build. The country also suffers from soil liquefaction, where the soil turns into liquid in response to an earthquake’s sudden movement. With the type of soil Ecuador is built on, it would experience stronger shaking and more damage. The materials used in Ecuador’s infrastructures also have been of poor quality. They are built with unstable materials such as masonry infill walls and flexible reinforced concrete. With more and more people living in slums, it could be a higher risk since people do not have enough money to afford durable and long-lasting materials for their houses. But after the 7.8 Earthquake in Ecuador in 2016, people were appreciating bamboo as it was able to withstand earthquakes and they have realized it after they have seen houses built on bamboo unaffected in the earthquake. They would put a concrete foundation and put the bamboo as its pillars. They also have mixed modern construction materials to assure its durability. Ecuador also established the Earthquake Safety Advisory Board, which is used to monitor and update earthquake risks in the country. The Quito School Earthquake Safety Project was also created to evaluate the building of the schools if it is safe or not. This effects to the improvement of the building so that there will be lesser risk and they would be able to impose safety school measures. In earthquake preparedness, improvement must be made. Some provinces in Ecuador are accustomed to small tremors and the people were not prepared on what to do during an earthquake. Due to these, when powerful earthquakes would strike, this would send people in immediate panic, for they did not know how to deal with it. With weak construction and no awareness, it will produce vast amounts of damage in infrastructures and casualties. In a 2010 poll by El Universo newspaper, 85% of respondents in the cities of Quito and Guayaquil, Ecuador’s main cities stated they were uninformed about instructions on what to do during emergencies, and 40% were completely unaware of what to do during earthquakes. Ecuador’s Red Cross also had helped raise awareness about these, but it was not enough because they do not have enough capacity to train people.

A house in Ecuador with a bamboo as its foundation

A building toppled down after the 2016 Ecuador earthquake

     With this information, Ecuador is alarmingly unprepared for another massive earthquake –from the building structure to the awareness of the citizens. They often do drills every year, but it failed to be maintained properly. As stated, the buildings are mostly made of unsafe materials that can be destroyed quickly. But after the 2016 earthquake, it has been an eye-opener to the citizens and government of Ecuador. Even though with these problems yet to be fixed, the citizens of Ecuador have also used their innovativeness to use bamboo as the foundation of their buildings and it is fascinating that albeit the impacts and effects of the 2016 earthquake, their resourcefulness was greatly used so that certain effects and destruction would not happen again.

In comparison, the Philippines established the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council to ensure the protection of the people during an earthquake or calamity. They are also responsible for holding earthquake drills regularly in schools and buildings four times per year to boost preparedness in people. The government also implemented strong building codes that fit the standard to withstand an 8.4 earthquake. In Ecuador, they have the National Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR) to also ensure and monitor the citizen's safety. They also have emergency services to respond like the Ecuadorian Red Cross and ECU 911. They also do often hold earthquake drills. The raising of awareness in the country is poorly implemented, therefore making the citizens unprepared during an earthquake. But, they have emergency services to respond immediately to the victims to rescue quickly. As stated earlier, they have established the Earthquake Safety Advisory Board to ensure the safety of the people and buildings. During 2016, Ecuador also has included bamboo on its National Construction Code, making it the standard when people need to construct buildings. 

To conclude, Ecuador is somehow unprepared to these calamities due to unawareness of what to do during earthquakes. The Ecuadorian government should have clearer plans to raise awareness properly so that people would not panic. Ecuador is susceptible to earthquakes and it would need more preparation for the people and proper check-up of the buildings. These major earthquakes are signs that the government and the people should work together so that they can be able to reduce casualties. Earthquake preparedness is necessary because if people do not know any of these, it will be a great risk. If Ecuador would improve in terms of earthquake preparedness and building stability, then it would be a great benefit when another massive earthquake would strike anytime soon.

References

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