FOR 45 minutes on Thursday, the national government, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the residents of Metro Manila tested their readiness to respond and react to earthquake, eliciting varied observations, although mostly negative.
Top disaster officials, including National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) Chairman Voltaire T. Gazmin, said some of the rescuers and those who were supposed to be rescued were not serious. Some, including offices, did not even bother to participate.
The earthquake drill tested the preparations of Metro Manila to respond to the so-called The Big One, or the earthquake the West Valley Fault will generate once it moves. Seismologists said the fault line will trigger a magnitude-7.2 quake once it shakes.
Still, officials said the participation they saw is better than nothing.
“Our system’s response is good, and this is a part of our continuing effort to improve and strengthen our protocols or checklist,” said Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, vice chairman of the NDRRMC.
“But no less than Secretary Volts [Gazmin] said there are still gaps, a lot of gaps, and we are hoping to fill these up in the next days or weeks. For example, like in the preparation of food, equipment, pneumatic equipment because we are experienced in preparing for typhoon,” Roxas said.
Like in responding to typhoons, he said there are equipment that should also be prepared for earthquakes.
For Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Hernando Iriberri, the movement, especially those who should be responding, should be synchronized.
“We will get all those gaps,” he said.
The Air Force deployed a total of 10 helicopters during the drill.
Two UH-1Hs from the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command, two UH-1Hs from the Southern Luzon Command and two Sokol helicopters from Villamor Air Base conducted Aerial Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis over different areas in Metro Manila and inserted AFP Incident Commanders and their staff into the four designated sectors, or quadrants, in Metro Manila.
The Philippine National Police also participated in the drill.
Filipinos poured out of buildings and shopping malls in the massive drill across Manila to brace for a 7.2-magnitude earthquake that experts fear could kill tens of thousands and displace millions.
The drill was designed to boost preparedness in the Philippines, which is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries and lies in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where earthquakes and volcanic activities are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people on the main northern island of Luzon, which includes Manila, in 1990.
Renato Solidum, who heads the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, warned that the West Valley Fault, which cuts across the capital of more than 12 million people and outlying provinces, could shift anytime based on its seismic history. The death and devastation could be severe if the public and the government would not be prepared, he said.
“We don’t have a culture of preparedness,” said MMDA Francis N. Tolentino, adding that work needed to be done to reduce a potential death toll estimated at 35,000.
When alarms sounded, tens of thousands rushed out of buildings and shopping malls in Manila, some smiling and taking pictures and videos with their cell phones.
Such drills are crucial because they familiarize people with simple things, like the location of fire exits, and prompt them to prepare flashlights and whistles that could save lives in real disasters, said Mark Bidder of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The western Pacific archipelago is also lashed by about 20 storms and typhoons each year. Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), one of the most ferocious storms on record to hit land, devastated large areas of the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving more than 7,300 dead and missing.
(With AP)
Image credits: Alysa salen, Kevin de la Cruz, Nonoy Lacza