The Makati City government on Tuesday announced it will participate in the 3rd Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill set today as part of the city’s disaster preparedness program.
Makati is among the cities in the National Capital Region that will take part in the event spearheaded by the Ayala Group, starting at 8 a.m. at the MACEA Building on Legazpi Street, Legazpi Village.
The drill, according to Makati city chief information officer Romulo Salgado Jr., will be held in collaboration with the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office and the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD).
City officials and those from the national government, including Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary Erwin Tulfo and Department of Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum, are expected to join the exercise.
The activity aims to educate citizens on what to do during and after an earthquake, and how to manage the effects the quake could cause.
As tremor may have after-effects, simulations of other different scenarios like fire suppression, police response, evacuation, search and rescue, traffic management, extraction and medical response will be conducted as part of the drill.
Makati Mayor Abigail Binay believes that frequent earthquake drills and exercises are an extremely important part of any preparedness plan, and also help in evaluating the effectiveness of its emergency plan.
Since 2018, Mayor Binay has pursued the promotion of a “culture of preparedness” among city residents.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs) had warned that the Valley Fault system might trigger a big quake.
Should the ‘Big One’ occurs, which experts believe would happen anytime, massive destructions might take place in Metro Manila with expected 35,000 deaths in the first hour alone; over 100,000 injured, and at least 500 instantaneous structural fires.
The Phivolcs said the system is composed of two sections — the 10-km. East Valley Fault which covers Rodriguez and San Mateo towns in Rizal, and the 100-km West Valley Fault that passes through 42 barangays in cities of Makati, Taguig, Marikina, Pasig, Muntinlupa and Quezon City, and 30 barangays in Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite, and Laguna.