TACLOBAN CITY (CIO) – To create awareness and boost the preparedness skill of residents during an earthquake, a Community Simulation Earthquake Drill was held on Tuesday, October 29, in Tacloban City participated by 10 barangays.

Held at exactly 9:30 a.m, the drill was spearheaded by City Department of Interior and Local Government in partnership with and the City Government of Tacloban under Mayor Alfred S. Romualdez, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Regional Office 8, and the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO).

The nearly two-hour exercise seeks not only to intensify preparedness but also strengthen the commitment of local government units in building safe communities.

City DILG Director Atty. Darwin Bibar along with Rey M. Gozon from OCD Region 8 and CDRRMO Head Ildebrando Bernadas led the ceremonial pressing of the button that signals the start of the “ground-shaking” with hundreds of participants from the 10 selected barangays performing the “duck, cover, and hold” position.

Barangay 69 Anibong hosted the drill participated by barangays 37, 36, 65, 66, 66-A, 67, 68 70, 71.

“Nagpili la anay hin 10 nga barangays nga paghihimuan hin drill. An remaining nga 128 out of 138 na mga barangays in nabulig gihap as responders,” said Gozon, Chief Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) Division of OCD Region 8

“Ngan usa gihap ine nga pagcollaborate han barangays ngan han may mga advance nga training han search and rescue para maencourage liwat an taga-barangay nga pag-advance it ira kaaraman in terms of the conduct of search and rescue,” he added.

Meanwhile, Atty. Bibar said the drill was held as part of the commemoration of the 28th Local Government Code Anniversary, as well as the implementation of the DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2019-06 entitled “2019 Quarterly Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill”.

“Kaangayan gud la magpreparar kita hin bisan ano nga kalamidad and I believe this is one of the major thrusts of the City Government, an aton disaster preparedness ngan an aton panawagan na magin mas disaster resilience an syudad han Tacloban,” he stressed.

Also highlighted during the activity was the capability of stakeholders and all local key players in responding to emergencies specifically in the management of the Incident Command System (ICS), the evaluation of the affected populace, with focus on children, elderly and persons with disabilities and in the provisioning of medical assistance and relief. – C. Merin/CIO

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Photo: A. Alamos/CIO