BAGUIO CITY May 02 – The City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) will conduct a night earthquake drill in the city anytime to ascertain the preparedness of residents when a strong temblor will hit the country’s Summer Capital.
Local DRRMO (LDRRMO) officer Louie Glenn Lardizabal said that the conduct of the night earthquake drill is part of the local disaster risk reduction and management plan to inform and educate the residents on the appropriate actions to be done during emergency situations to prevent lives from being exposed to eminent danger.
The LDRRMO is a newly created office of the local government under the City Administrator’s Office to oversee the implementation of disaster risk reduction and management initiatives and the preparedness of people during natural and man-made disasters.
Lardizabal said that the LDRRMO is now preparing the mechanics of the night earthquake drill before residents are informed of the conduct of the drill.
“We hope we will achieve our overall objectives for this first-ever night earthquake drill so that we can assess how our residents will react during the actual occurrence of an earthquake,” Lardizabal stressed.
He explained no one can predict the occurrence of an earthquake and its magnitude that is why the only way to minimise its impact is to train people of the basic duck, cover and hold, and to await for the situation to stabilize before looking for an open space where to evacuate.
According to him, the ability of the residents to effectively and efficiently react to emergency situations when there are no sufficient lightings, and when the situation does not call for it, will be assessed and evaluated so that the LDRRMO can formulate the required information and education campaign (IEC) materials for the updated guidance of the residents for them to know what to do when emergency situation strikes.
At present, the LDRRMO is providing appropriate trainings to ensure that emergency responders in the barangays have the capacity to respond to emergency situations as frontliners in disaster response.
The local government constructed a multi-storey LDRRMO building within the compound of the City Engineering Office that will serve as the city’s main disaster operation center aside from serving as an evacuation center.
Lardizabal appealed to residents to cooperate with the local government in the conduct of the proposed night earthquake drill so that the real awareness of the people could be ascertained to guide policy makers and decision makers in the crafting of IEC materials.
Under the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act of 2010, local governments are required to establish their own local disaster risk reduction and management councils to cater to disaster risk reduction and management initiatives in their areas of jurisdiction.
By Dexter A. See
Photo (on file) by Boing Cayabyab