Earthquake drills conducted

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) held Wednesday the 3rd Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drills (NSED) as part of efforts to instill disaster preparedness to the public.

NDRRMC spokesperson Romina Marasigan said the ceremonial venue of the quake drill was held at the Strike Gymnasium in Bacoor City, Cavite.

At exactly 2 p.m., Civil Veterans and Retiree Affairs Undersecretary Ernesto G. Carolina, DRR and Climate Change Undersecretary Renato U. Solidum, Office of Civil Defense (OCD) CALABARZON Regional Director Olivia M. Luces, Cavite Governor Jesus Crispin C. Remulla, Vice Governor Ramon Jolo B. Revilla III, and Bacoor City Mayor Lani Mercado Revilla, joined in the pressing of the button which signaled the conduct of the nationwide earthquake drill.

Officials, actors, responders and guests at the venue performed the duck,cover and hold as an initial reaction to the stimulated magnitude 7.2 earthquake generated by the West Valley Fault.

Four Local Government Units (LGUs) in Cavite portrayed a total of 18 scenarios to showcase the response capacities of the Province. Some of the scenarios were Emergency Medical Response (EMR), Search Rescue and Retrieval (SRR), Management of the Dead and Missing (MDM), chemical decontamination, fire suppression, and camp coordination and management.

Part of the earthquake drill was the setting up of an Emergency Operations Center, Incident Command Post and conduct of Rapid Damage Assessement and Need Analysis.

Aside from enhancing community preparedness, the 3rd Quarter NSED also sought to test the interoperability of DRRM Councils from the National down to the Municipal level.

Local drills were conducted nationwide through the Regional Civil Defense Offices and DRRM Councils.

Marasigan said in line with the quake drill, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) also hosted the Bida ang Handa Campaign aimed at promoting disaster preparedness through public’s participation in the NSED.

“The main goal of the activity is to gather the maximum number of commitments via social media,” Marasigan said.

Individuals and groups were encouraged to post their videos on social media featuring preparedness measures to promote disaster preparedness at all levels. #BidaAngHanda is the official hashtag for this year’s NSED.