Philippines: The case of SM City Cabanatuan mall

SM Prime’s (shopping mall company) commitment in building safer and disaster‐resilient malls was considered in SM Cabanatuan by consciously and decisively designing the mall to allow overflowing creek floodwater during extreme floods into the mall property. The lower ground structure also serves as a temporary flood catchment which minimized the level of flood in the community.

The recorded lessons learned are:

• SM Prime saw the opportunity of doing business while considering the risk.
• The additional 10% in costs to build a disaster resilient mall were more than recouped in avoided losses.
• SM Prime gained more trust with its stakeholders because it anticipated the risk and took action based on their needs, rendering a sustainable competitive advantage.

This case study is one of a series produced by members of ARISE, the UNISDR Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies.