ILOILO City – This southern city is among the sites for this year’s 1st Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill slated on Feb. 21.
City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Donna Magno said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology recommended Iloilo City as the quake drill pilot area in a national coordination meeting.
The drill aims to raise awareness on the Lady Caycay earthquake that severely hit Panay Island in 1948.
The magnitude 8.2 tremor damaged the belfry tower in Jaro district and other Hispanic structures in the city.
Magno said big earthquakes such as Lady Caycay have a recurring period for every 70 to 100 years.
“It has been 70 years. Ang big events daan like that may recurring period so dapat tutukan gid na kung ano ang natabo sa past so that we can prepare for possible scenarios like Lady Caycay,” Magno stressed.
She also said the simulation will determine how prepared Iloilo City is in terms of emergency response.
Last week, representatives from the city government, Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) and other concerned agencies gathered for their second coordination meeting regarding the drill.
OCD Region 6 director Jose Roberto Nuñez said the national quake drill aims to strengthen disaster risk reduction and management ideals such as self-help efforts, mutual-help efforts, and public-help efforts.
Self-help efforts are individual initiatives to reduce damage from disasters, such as confirming evacuation routes, preparing emergency bags, and strengthening houses against disasters, Nuñez said.
Mutual-help efforts, on the other hand, are the initiatives conducted by community-based organizations, such as preparing a risk map of the community, conducting evacuation drills in a community, and helping each other at evacuation camps.
Public-help efforts, meanwhile, are government-initiated efforts for risk reduction and management, such as improvement of public infrastructures for mitigating risks, raising public awareness, keeping emergency equipment, providing search and rescue operations, managing evacuation camps, and implementing measures for recovery.
“When all of these efforts are optimally executed, a society becomes resilient against disasters,” Nuñez said.
5 DRILL SITES
There will be five areas where drills will be simultaneously conducted.
These areas, according to Magno, will highlight the relationship among different stakeholders – like the barangay and the academe – in case of emergencies.
The five sites are Barangay Sto. Niño Sur, Arevalo wherein a maritime school
is located; SM City-Iloilo; Megaworld; Iloilo Mission Hospital, and Iloilo City Hall.
The total number of participants in the simultaneous drill is estimated at 5,000 to 8,000./PN
