ALTHOUGH most analysts would admit that it would be too early to spot any discernible trend in multistory developments, leading high-rise developers have reported a spike in inquiries and sales since the recent flooding caused by storm ?Ondoy? and typhoon ?Pepeng.?
This was revealed by Lindsay J. Orr, chief operating officer of Jones Lang LaSalle LeeChiu, a financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate services.
?High-rise living has long been a way of life for urbanites?young and old?in Hong Kong and Singapore. What we are now seeing in the Philippines is a gradually increasing acceptance to high-rise living in urban areas with the benefits of cost, security and immunity from flooding being the general drivers. This trend is sure to continue,? Orr told Inquirer Property.
The offshoot of Ondoy, according to Orr, has been the added attraction to multistory dwellings.
?Filipino homeowners have long had a strong attachment to land as expressed in their preference for house and lots as against residential condominiums. The recent weather disturbance has helped enlarge the options of Metro Manila residents and may have opened the eyes of urbanites in other parts of the country as well to the attraction of high-rise living.?
But this trend favoring high-rise living may soon be tempered with another issue, this time geological in nature. The country?s official seismic monitoring and detection agency Phivolcs recently announced a possible earthquake with a magnitude of 7 or higher on the Richter scale rocking Metro Manila in the near future.
In comparison, the strongest recorded earthquake in the Philippines, a 7.9 temblor, occurred in Mindanao in 1976, a time and place where no high-rises existed, recalled National Real Estate Association president Alejandro S. Mañalac. On July 16, 1990, Northern Luzon, including Metro Manila, was struck with a strong earthquake.
?Very few buildings in Metro Manila sustained major structural damage and there was none that I recall which collapsed here in the NCR,? Mañalac said.
He added, ?Our buildings can be considered just as safe as our counterparts in the countries along the Pacific Ring of Fire since we are using the same building standards. However, one must realize that no structure is totally earthquake proof. Most modern buildings are earthquake-resistant for high intensities but that only means that it can hold and stand to minimize the loss of life and limbs but still be declared as condemned afterward.?
Preferences
Mañalac explained that it would no longer be applicable to think that people prefer to live in houses rather than in condominiums, as preferences have shifted in favor of high-rise living since the younger generation mostly work and spend most of their time in buildings located in urban centers.
?Thus, chances are you might be inside a high-rise office building, inside a mall and on or under an elevated highway rather inside your low-ceilinged bungalow when an earthquake happens,? Mañalac said.
Orr said that given that the Philippines is a known earthquake zone in the Asia-Pacific region, ?high-rise developers employ modern safety technologies to ensure structural integrity of buildings. Furthermore, since the large earthquake of 1991, all high-rise buildings in the country had to be constructed to the structural integrity standards of ?Seismic Region 4,? for high-risk seismic activity, the provisions of which are rigidly monitored and adhered to. Therefore, safety standards are maintained at a global level and are on par with buildings in other Seismic Region 4 countries.?
