Makati holds third quarter earthquake drill
Makati City with various government agencies conducted the Third Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Exercise Drill on Thursday at the Legazpi Active Park.
The exercise, the first in two years since the COVID-19 pandemic started, was done in coordination with the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Makati Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (MDRRMC), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Makati Central Estate Association (MACEA), and Ayala Property Management Corporation.
During the nationwide earthquake drill which began at 9 am, five scenarios were portrayed including search and rescue, treating injured victims, managing traffic, and evacuation.
Makati Mayor Abby Binay, in her opening statement, read by Makati Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer Richard Rodriguez, said the drill was an “opportune time to test the efficiency and usefulness of the preparedness, response and recovery plans of the local government units, offices and schools”.
At a press briefing, Defense Undersecretary Franco Gacal said the exercise was conducted to assess the disaster response capabilities of the city, provincial and regional government units and to make them “interoperable”.
“We should implement a whole-of-society approach in responding to the calamities we face. That’s why we, the NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council), and the OCD are trying to identify which organizations in the local area we can partner with to conduct the exercise or even the actual disaster response,” Gacal said.
“That is why, this is a nationwide simultaneous drill, so that the different OCDs in the regional level can assess the different capabilities of the regions, provinces, and cities,” he added.
Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum, Jr. said they will be holding another drill in the last quarter which focuses on preparing for tsunamis.
“For the additional activities (related to earthquake drill), you know that every quarter we have a drill. So starting maybe before the pandemic, we reserve the last exercise, for the last quarter of the year, we will focus on tsunamis," Solidum told reporters.
Solidum said the drill will improve the earthquake preparedness of the residents of Greater Metro Manila and the nearby provinces in case a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, also known as the “Big One”, hits the West Valley Fault.
“We are improving our earthquake preparedness for what we call the Greater Metro Manila. So it can’t be just one city or only Metro Manila. It should be all of them. We also need to prepare the responders that were identified to help Metro Manila. That’s why it would be good for the LGUs (local government units) to help capacitate those who are assigned to rescue them,” he said.
The West Valley Fault is one of the five major fault lines in the Philippines. It is 100 km long and traverses the cities of Metro Manila including Taguig, Muntinlupa, Paranaque, Quezon City, Pasig, Makati, and Marikina and the provinces of Rizal, Laguna, Cavite, and Bulacan.
On July 27, Abra was shaken by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, which injured 615 individuals and left 11 dead. Jaspearl Tan/DMS
