ILOILO City – There’s no telling when a strong earthquake would strike.
Being prepared all the time could avert an earthquake disaster, according to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) in Western Visayas.
OCD Region 6 is leading today’s nationwide simultaneous earthquake drill – the third for this year – in Capiz province.
“Pag-earthquake, everybody is affected,” according to Alleth Nogra, head of OCD-6’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Division, thus, quake readiness should be everybody’s concern.
It should start at home and carried over to schools and workplaces, among others, she stressed.
Local government units must have contingency measures, too, said Nogra, adding, “Kinahanglan sige-sige ang aton preparedness.”
For today’s 3rd Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) in Capiz that starts at 2 p.m., the venues are Capiz National High School and Capiz State University.
Some 12,000 people are expected to participate, according to Melissa Banias, OCD-6 Capability Building Section chief.
In Memorandum No. 17-2018 of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the objectives of the NSED are the following:
* to test the efficiency and usefulness of the preparedness, response and recovery plans, systems and policies developed in localities/offices/schools
* to evaluate the effectiveness of contingency plans
* to test the coordination and communication mechanism during response operation
* to understand the command and control mechanism in emergency and disaster operation at DRRMCs
For today’s drill in Capiz, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake generated by the West Panay Fault would be simulated. The Villareal Stadium would be used as evacuation center.
The most damaging earthquake so far generated by the West Panay Fault happened in Jan. 25, 1948. At magnitude 8.1, it totally collapsed the church of Cuartero, Capiz and damaged those of Dumalag and Dao towns.
The Sta. Monica Church in Panay, Capiz, the home of the biggest bell in Asia, and the Roxas City Cathedral, were slightly damaged./PN
