In July 2022, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake shook the northwestern Philippines, killing 11 people and injuring nearly 600 others. The quake and its aftershocks caused an estimated 1.6 billion pesos ($27.3 million) in damage to infrastructure and agriculture.

Among the hardest hit areas was the historic city of Vigan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best-preserved Spanish colonial towns in Asia. About 100 ancestral homes, as well as the city's 19th century cathedral and bell tower, were severely damaged. Most of the homes are in private hands and securing funding for their repair has been beyond the means of most residents.

Lasting impacts of the quake

Homeowner Milagros "Mitos" Belofsky remembers well when she received a phone call about the impact of the earthquake on her family's historic house, the Syquia Mansion—one of the largest Spanish-era homes in Vigan.

"I was in Manila and our staff called me right away to say that there was a strong earthquake," she said, adding that she made the seven-hour drive from Manila to Vigan the very next day. "I saw the house in shambles, what had fallen, what had broken. It was overwhelming."

Mitos Belofsky is overseeing repairs to in the her family's ancestral home, Syquia Mansion.

UN Philippines/Jorica Pamintuan Mitos Belofsky is overseeing repairs to in the her family's ancestral home, Syquia Mansion.

Two years after the earthquake, the Syquia Mansion and many other Vigan heritage houses have yet to be restored to their former glory.

The families that serve as custodians of these historic homes said that aside from the high costs of repair and restoration, they are also facing challenges in rehabilitating the houses the right way, using appropriate techniques and materials to conserve structural integrity and authenticity.

UNESCO steps in

To help support the Vigan heritage community in post-disaster recovery, UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in the Philippines mobilized a multi-disciplinary team of experts for detailed assessments of several damaged houses and capacity building workshops for homeowners and local craftsmen.

The yearlong project was implemented through UNESCO's Heritage Emergency Fund (HEF), a multi-donor fund for the protection of cultural heritage in emergencies. The initiative is the first to be funded by the HEF in the Philippines.

Moe Chiba, Head of the Culture Unit at UNESCO's regional office in Jakarta, said the HEF Vigan project is meant to supplement efforts to rehabilitate the city's ancestral homes, as the bulk of the Philippine government's funding for post-earthquake recovery was channeled towards the restoration of the cathedral and bell tower, which are publicly owned monuments.