A long and deafening siren resonated around the campus at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday which made the people in the whole university do the drop, cover, and hold. Thousands of students and members of the faculty and staff hurriedly marched to the designated Place of Rallying Points of the school campus as the ground stops shaking. A total of six casualties were reported to the command center at the Ignatius Park with one patient needing immediate medical attention.
The event transpired during the Earthquake Evacuation Drill with Medical Scenario last February 1 which was organized by the Ateneo School Based Disaster Risk Reduction Management Group in cooperation with the Center for Community Development. The drill lasted for thirty minutes and covered the four buildings of the university.
The event was observed by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP). According to SFO1 Mario Reburiano Jr. of the BFP, the recommendations from the 2016 drill were put into practice which made the drill effective and successful. He also pointed out the excellent performance of the medical scenario team. SBDRRMG decided to skip last year’s drill to really prepare and to adhere to the recommendations of the Bureau of Fire Protection.
The drill was successful; far from sure chaos that people will face if a real earthquake strikes. But if repeated more often, authorities expect lesser fear because people are trained on how to respond properly when an earthquake strikes.
