THIS residential building in Kidapawan town in north Cotabato sustained the most damage from the twin magnitude 6.6 and 6.5 earthquakes that hit the Mindanao region. AFP Photo

Government engineers in Cotabato tasked to approve building permits may face criminal liability arising from the collapse of structures in the area due to three consecutive earthquakes.

This as an official of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Sunday night said the damaged structures did not conform to the National Building Code of the Philippines.

Scores of people were killed in the magnitude 6.6 and 6.5 quakes that hit Mindanao last week.

Meanwhile, 16 residents of Makilala, Cotabato who were without food and water for days were rescued by elements of the Philippine Air Forcee, along with with the Army trekkers who found them.

Jeffrey Perez of Phivolcs said the collapsed structures were found to have been built using substandard construction materials, adding following the Code would have allowed structures to survive even “intensity 8” quakes.

A RESCUE chopper of the Philippine Air Force is perched precariously on a ledge along a mountainside road in Makilala, Cotabato to rescue residents without food and water for days since the 31 October magnitude 6.5 earthquake. PAF handout photo

Magnitude and intensity are two different ways of measuring an earthquake’s strength. Magnitude 6.0 to 6.9 equates to Intensity 7 to 9. Cotabato was hit by a magnitude 6.3 on 16 October, magnitude 6.6 on 29 October and magnitude 6.5 on 31 October.

Still, Perez, a supervisor in the research and science department of Phivolcs, conceded that the succession of earthquakes may have aggravated the damage on the structures.

“It just so happened that in the series of earthquakes, those buildings that were partially damaged by the first one was totalled by the third earthquake,” he said in Filipino over radio.

Meanwhile, doctors tending to evacuees have appealed for more volunteers, as well as needed resources like medicines and even simple things like pens and papers.

The doctors and nurses have resorted to writing medical data, like blood pressure, on the patients’ skin due to the lack of writing materials.