Following the 6.3-magnitude quake that hit Batangas on Friday and was felt in several cities in Metro Manila, Mayor Joseph Estrada on Monday placed Manila’s emergency units on full alert anew, as the city’s disaster chief warned that the feared “Big One””•a 7.2 magnitude tremor”•may strike the metropolis anytime soon.
While trying not to sound alarmed, Estrada said it is better to be prepared at all times because millions of lives and precious properties are at great risk should the strong earthquake indeed hit Metro Manila.
“I’ve been saying this a million times—it pays to be ready and prepared. This is why we’ve been continuously upgrading the training and equipment of our emergency responders,” Estrada said.
In the barangays, Estrada said the training of the all-volunteer Manila Community Emergency Response Teams is still ongoing, particularly in reporting and evacuation procedures.
After Friday’s quake, Estrada lauded the various groups that exhibited prompt and appropriate response to the situation, particularly in the evacuation and reporting procedures they executed.
“I am quite satisfied with the response of the different sectors in Manila, particularly the barangays, the schools, government offices and private business establishments, majority of which undertook prompt and orderly evacuation procedures after the earthquake and gave feedback reports to the authorities especially to the MDDRMO [Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office],” Estrada said.
This is a “concrete positive result” of the series of trainings on calamity response the city government has been conducting with different groups, organizations and sectors, he added.
MDRRMO chief Johnny Yu warned the recent Batangas quake may be an indication that the “Big One” is coming.
When the “Big One” strikes, according to the 2004 Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and Japan International Cooperation Agency, there will be 35,000 deaths in Metro Manila in the first hour alone, over 100,000 injured, and at least 500 instantaneous fires.
But Yu stressed the latest quake showed the readiness of Manileños in reacting to such emergency situation. Majority of establishments in the city, he said, conducted orderly evacuations.
Among those are universities and colleges such as the University of Santo Tomas, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, De La Salle University, and Centro Escolar University.
Yu said more than 50 percent of 896 barangays quickly updated the MDRRMO headquarters about the situation in their respective neighborhoods according to the disaster response protocols they have been continuously practicing.
“Emergency teams were immediately put on standby and assessment teams conducted initial damage assessment. No damages were reported. So far, so good,” Yu said.
As instructed by Estrada, the Manila Department of Social Welfare assured it has sufficient food stockpile to feed up to 10,000 people for up to 15 days should a major calamity strikes, according to its chief Nanet Tanyag.
Since assuming office in 2013, Estrada has poured in almost P1 billion to the city government’s continuous disaster risk reduction capability-building and modernization program.
Among the newest procurement by the city government are the P30-million mobile command center or Incident Command Unit, a hazardous-material vehicle, a heavy duty rescue truck, an amphibious truck, and a mobile kitchen.
Estrada said funds are being prepared to acquire additional sets of equipment that will be forward-deployed to each of Manila’s six districts to shorten response time in case of emergencies.
Based on the JICA study, Manila, being an old city with hundreds of dilapidated, wooden structures and large parts of which are below sea level, is “most vulnerable” to inferno-like fires as well as flooding and tsunami from the Manila Bay.
According to the study’s Urban Vulnerability against Earthquake Damage, the Manila North Port Area, South-Eastern Manila, and Central Manila Bay Area are the “most vulnerable to flammability” and the evacuation would be “very difficult.”
In this scenario, 170,000 residential houses will collapse, fires will burn approximately 1,710 hectares of land and properties, and 18,000 additional persons will be killed by the secondary disaster, the study added.
