GenSan Business Leaders Demand Updated Geohazard Maps After Mindanao Quake

 

GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Business leaders here are demanding an immediate review of regional geohazard maps after a recent earthquake exposed previously unidentified fault lines and widespread soil liquefaction.

The General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry reported that the disaster revealed severe ground vulnerabilities that caught local planners by surprise. The business group is urging scientific agencies to update mapping data to dictate where future infrastructure can safely expand.

"Before this earthquake, we had no idea that General Santos and Sarangani had a liquefaction problem," Eusebio Baladiang Jr., the chamber's vice president, said during an interview on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s "Business 360." 

"There are areas that experienced earthquake faults that were not identified before," he added. 

Baladiang stated that commercial investors require immediate, definitive data on which neighborhoods will be designated as no-build zones, particularly for residential and commercial developments. Property zones that escape a total ban could potentially be repurposed for lower-risk industrial uses.

Local officials have noted visible physical damage across multiple barangays caused directly by liquefaction, a process where solid ground behaves like liquid during intense shaking.

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