At least two things should be learned from last Monday evening’s collapse of a portion of the ceiling of Ayala Cinema 5 that injured nine persons.
One, is that building owners and commercial developers should conduct periodic inspections of their structures to augment those being done by Cebu City Hall’s Office of the Building Official as stated by Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama during his meeting with them at his office last Wednesday.
Two, mall owners and owners of these commercial establishments should coordinate with the Cebu City government’s City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) in dealing with any victims of accidents that occur within their premises.
Dave Evans, an Australian chief executive of Dreamscape Networks whose employees and guests were among those who were injured during an event held at the Ayala Cinema 5 that fateful Monday evening, complained that it took 25 minutes for emergency responders to reach the site after the Ayala mall management barred them from entering the premises.
Though the mall management had its own team to deal with situations like these, it would certainly be helpful and reassuring for victims of the accident to know that their needs are being met by both the establishment and the local officials.
Though the nine victims sustained minor cuts and bruises and five of them were discharged from a hospital as of last Wednesday, the incident is certainly an embarrassment for the mall management as evidenced by the scores of videos of the accident that went viral and drew thousands of views through social media, not to mention being reported in the national media.
To be sure, the mall management is conducting a thorough investigation of the incident and the mayor is confident enough about their commitment and capability that he didn’t issue a closure order on Ayala Cinema but merely advised that Ayala Cinema 5 operations be suspended temporarily.
But it didn’t take an earthquake nor a typhoon to cause last Monday’s accident. Just a water sprinkler system that malfunctioned and caused an impromptu waterfall witnessed by bewildered guests, some of whom were unfortunately hit by the collapsed ceiling boards.
If Ayala Cinema 5 which was only built on December 2013 can sustain such damage merely through an overwrought water sprinkler system, one can only imagine the danger posed to the public by aging cinemas that are still patronized by people in downtown Cebu City.
An ordinance authored by Tumulak that required commercial establishment owners to submit their own emergency plans was passed also in 2013 but without any penalties, it was ignored.
Last Monday evening’s accident may hopefully spur these building owners into complying with that ordinance in order to avoid much worse accidents in the future.
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