Following a devastating earthquake, residents in the Philippines express shock and grief, highlighting a lingering lack of disaster preparedness for major seismic events.

When the ground tore open beneath the Philippines last week, Roldan Dante was working in a nearby town. By the time he could return, his home in Glan, Sarangani province, had collapsed. His wife and two young children were gone. “If only I had known this was going to happen, I would have picked them up,” he told This Week in Asia, as social workers pressed government cash aid into his hands. “I feel traumatised. I’m in shock and I still can’t accept what happened.” Dante’s loss speaks to the...