GENERAL SANTOS CITY — Business leaders here are urging government scientists to immediately update regional geohazard maps after a recent powerful earthquake exposed previously undocumented fault lines and widespread soil liquefaction across southern Mindanao.

The call comes as local commercial developers and foreign investors seek clear scientific guidance on where future residential, commercial and industrial projects can safely proceed.

In an online interview, General Santos City Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president Eusebio Baladiang Jr. said the disaster revealed significant geological hazards that were completely missing from existing land-use planning data.

“Before this earthquake, we had no idea that General Santos and Sarangani had a liquefaction problem,” Baladiang said, adding that the intense ground shaking also appeared to expose active fault movements in areas previously thought to be stable.

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

Local officials have already documented visible ground deformation, fractured roadways and severe structural damage across several barangays due to soil liquefaction — a phenomenon where water-saturated soil temporarily behaves like a liquid during intense seismic activity.

Baladiang stressed that updated geohazard assessments from state scientific agencies are now essential to restore investor confidence.

He cited that if specific properties are ultimately declared unsafe for residential or commercial use, authorities could rezone them for low-risk industrial projects depending on engineering evaluations.

Urban planners and disaster risk experts heavily rely on geohazard maps to dictate municipal zoning, infrastructure development and emergency preparedness.

However, major earthquakes frequently reveal unmapped geological features, altering prior scientific consensus.

National government agencies have not yet announced whether a comprehensive review or revision of the region’s hazard classifications will be conducted.