The city government of Taguig has announced it will be participating in the 3rd Metro Manila Shake Drill spearheaded by the Metro Manila Development Authority and Department of Interior Local Government, slated from July 14 to 17.
“In line with this, we would like to remind the public to please remain calm as the said activity may cause some parts of the city to experience water, electricity and cellular network interruption on the said dates,” the city’s public information office said in a statement.
It added the interruptions are necessary in order to make the activity and scenarios of a strong earthquake realistic, and to see the capacity and capability of the local government unit in responding to disasters like this.
The MMDA will conduct the four-day earthquake drill to inform the people about survival methods and the “do’s and dont’s” before, during and after the “Big One.”
The agency will be doing the shake drills at around 4 p.m. to allow other emergency responders from other regions to come in and participate. This year’s event also aim to identify the gaps during the first two drills held in 2015 and 2016.
The drills will allow first responders and emergency personnel of national government agencies and private organizations to fine-tune their respective contingency measures in case of the occurrence of the 7.2 magnitude tremor.
MMDA chairman Danilo Lim said every sector of society should all be aware and be ready to respond to such catastrophic event.
“We should not ignore and not take this activity lightly because lives are at stake here. We should not be complacent and should participate in this. Let us make this a meaningful exercise,” Lim said.
Under the Oplan Metro Yakal Plus, MMDA’s disaster contingency plan, the engagement for disaster preparedness and awareness will start from the national level to the local government units down to the family and individual.
Apart from testing response and rescue, command and control and communication systems, the exercise will also focus on early recovery-rehabilitation capacity.
This year, to make the exercise realistic, quadrant commanders of the four sectors—North, East, West and South—would have to start from scratch in mobilizing and setting up emergency operations centers in their respective places of assignments, as personnel and equipment will no longer be prepositioned.
This will test the community preparations and how every organization or agency will execute its contingency plans. For private groups, this will test their business continuity capabilities in times of disasters, MMDA officials said.
MMDA has also engaged private groups and companies to participate and test their own disaster response capabilities. MMDA officials will sit down with members of the academe, religious organizations, foreign embassies, and media in the following days.
When an earthquake strikes, the MMDA advised the people to duck or drop to the floor before the shaking knocks them down.
Agency officials said people must cover their heads and necks using their arms and get under desks and other shelters that are sturdy. They advised the people to either hold on to their shelter or continue covering their heads and necks until the shaking stops.
Last year’s shake drill conducted by the MMDA exceeded the 2015’s number of participants with 6.5 million people.
The agency attributed the success to the participation of local governments in Regions 3 and 4, and the private sectors.
The MMDA noted that a number of scenarios made during shake drills were based on a simulated 7.2-magnitude tremor with Intensity 8 happening in Metro Manila.