Buying a Property? Check first if it’s near fault line

You’ve worked so hard to achieve your goals.

Buying a property may be one of them. You have researched the location, the type of house, the size of the house, the exterior and interiors, and the budget. Finally, you’re seeing where hard-earned money goes.

But purchasing a land or condominium in the Philippines needs more than just the usual due diligence. It’s because the Philippines sits on top of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The Pacific Ring of Fire is the region at the edges of the Pacific Ocean, where volcanoes are active, which means earthquakes are frequent. 

Around 95 percent of the Earth’s total quakes happen inside the Pacific Ring of Fire. In the Philippines, we experience around 100-150 earthquakes a year, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

If the likelihood of earthquakes occurring is high, houses on the fault line will bear the most impact.

The safety of you, your family, and your property should always be a factor when choosing land, and it is best to ensure that your land is not in a fault line.

Thanks to the Phivolcs and theGeological Survey of Japan, anyone can search any property in the Philippines in the Phivolcs FaultFinder web app and website to check see if the area you would like to buy sits on top or near the fault line.

Here is the step-by-step guide :

Step 1: Go to http://Faultfinder.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/

Step 2: Click “The Valley Fault System (VFS) 

Step 3: Choose a way to locate the area of your property 

If you choose the “Active Fault Based on Location” you can search your area through clicking on your address.

If you choose the “Double Click a Place on the Map”, just double click the location of the property you’ve been eyeing for, then it will bring you to your chosen location and tell you the details if there’s an active fault line near that area.

PHIVOLCS fault finder is a website capable of showing you active faults of specific areas in the Philippines.

Photo courtesy Bureau of Fire Protection