Phl needs disaster- resilient buildings

CEBU, Philippines - With the series of disasters that hit the country last year, a visiting professor yesterday emphasized to engineering and architectural students to recognize that coming up with disaster-resilient constructions is highly essential.

Speaking before criminology, engineering and architectural students, Basque research professor Aitor Anduaga presented highlights on the history of earthquake-resistant structures and some earliest typhoon prediction amenities built during the early times, during a lecture-forum at the  Jose R. Gullas Halad Museum.

Anduaga mentioned typhoon prediction and earthquake–resistant structures in the Philippines, which were noted during 1850 to 1898, giving value to historical data and its contribution to global technology, science and education.

The lecture-forum was held in cooperation with JRG Halad Foundation and the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc.

After yesterday, Anduaga will be at the Saint Theresa’s College auditorium at 9 a.m. today, this time for a lecture-forum lecture on “Historical Research: Design and Data Gathering.”

During the Halad Museum forum, Anduaga asked those present, particularly the architectural and engineering students, to also take into consideration background information on disasters, such as earthquakes and typhoons, and to look into disaster-resistant features when making designs.

“For disaster-preparedness on earthquakes and typhoons, which bring devastation, it is a challenge to all. We should consider these as we come up with designs or plans,” he said.

Anduaga, who started his research studies in the Philippines in 2011, suggested that there should find a balance between the catastrophic effects produced by earthquakes and typhoons.

Anduaga, an Ikerbasque research professor of the University of the Basque Country, holds a Ph.D. in physics and a bachelor in philosophy.

He was also a visiting scholar at the Universities of Oxford, Sydney, Montreal and Toronto, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science of Berlin and the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, and published extensively on the social history of physics and technology.

His books, published by the Oxford University Press, Wireless & Empire, include “Geopolitics, Radio Industry and Ionosphere in the British Empire, 1918-1939.”

On Basque topics, his main contribution was the book “The Basque Chain. Education, Technology, Social Power and Industrial Performance, 1776-1902.”— May B. Miasco/RHM (FREEMAN)