NDCC holds earthquake drill in Malabon school

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) led yesterday the holding of the third simultaneous nationwide earthquake drill in Malabon City, which was participated in by more than 3,000 students from Malabon National High School.

Ernesto Carolina, Department of National Defense (DND) undersecretary for civil, veterans and reserve affairs office, said the drill aims to educate students and teachers how to properly react during and after an earthquake.

“We put this into practice nationwide on a quarterly basis. In the local level it’s as often as we could so that students and teachers could be properly oriented on specific responses during earthquake and on how to mitigate its impact,” Carolina said.

Carolina represented DND Secretary Gilbert Teodoro, who he said was in Mindanao for the same event. The DND supervises the NDCC operations.

The earthquake drill, which also showcased the disaster response and rescue capability of the Malabon City government and the local disaster coordinating council, was held at the Malabon National High School in Barangay Hulong Duhat. “The school premises is challenging for apart from it is situated in an area with narrow streets, it is also the second biggest public secondary school in Malabon City in terms of population with around 7,000 students,” Carolina said.

The exercise started at exactly 9 a.m., which Carolina said was done simultaneously with 52,000 other schools nationwide.

As the alarm sounded for earthquake simulation, students ran out of their classrooms in an orderly manner, their heads covered with makeshift headgears made up of rugs and some covered their heads with books and bags. They went directly to the designated “safety area.”

Rescuers arrived in less that five minutes and rescue operation, which was also participated in by K-9 dogs Rebelle and Piolo, was immediately conducted.

Each rescue team went to their specific tasks. The “medical area,” where the wounded received first aid, was immediately condoned off. The activity ended at around 11 a.m.

Observers, including Dr. Anthony Golez, Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) deputy executive director, were satisfied with the drill results.

According to Carolina, on a scale of 1 to 10, the participants’ response – including that of rescue teams from the local police, the fire department, the military, the Red Cross, and the Philippine K-9 Search and Rescue teams – garnered a score of eight.