The business sector should be resilient to disaster in case a magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits Metro Manila, the Philippine Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

Dr. Renato Solidum Jr., Phivolcs director, said cited the West Valley Fault as a critical factor in preparing for contingencies in the 5th Green Retail Agenda led recently by SM Supermalls, through SM Cares, at the SMX Mall of Asia.

“We can expect the West Valley Fault to move within our lifetime,” he said, referring to the geological alignment across Marikina, Quezon City, Pasig, Makati, and Taguig, that has moved four times in the last 1,400 years with a major earthquake occurring every 400 years.

According to Solidum, the last major earthquake took place in 1658 or 356 years ago.

With this year’s theme as “The Business Case for Disaster Risk Reduction”, SM Supermalls aims to present ways to make businesses more risk-sensitive so that all stakeholders, including the government, will be encouraged to invest more in disaster-risk reduction efforts.

Annie Garcia, President of SM Supermalls said with nearly half of the major natural disasters of the past 20 years occurring in Asia, including the Philippines, there is a greater need to make business disaster resilient.

“The impacts of disasters have become a growing concern not only with the government but especially for us in the private sector. We have all suffered the devastating effects of natural disasters,” she said.

“According to the World Risk Index, the Philippines is the third most disaster risk country worldwide with over 5 billion US dollars of loss due to disasters in a decade.”

In 2012, floods, typhoons and earthquakes caused more than $274 billion of economic losses in Asia.

Dr. Mahar Lagmay, Executive Director of Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards), in the same forum said at least 23 places, including Metro Manila, are identifies as prone to storm surges much like that brought by super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

“We did simulation and we found no less than 23 areas that are prone to a storm surge whenever there is a typhoon and that we have submitted this to the respective local government units so they make the necessary preparations,” he said.

These areas include the coastal cities of Navotas, Las Pinas, Paranaque and Manila in Metro Manila and coastal towns in the provinces of Pampanga, Bataan, Quezon, Albay and Camarines Sur.

The forum, which was put on live streaming to different universities in the country, was held in coordination with SM Cares, the corporate social responsibility arm of SM Supermalls.

SM Prime is a member of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction- Private Sector Partnerships.