6M to join Metro Manila earthshaking drill on July 30

SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL DRILL Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino explains the expected scenario during the July 30 metrowide earthquake drill in his briefing for the Inquirer in Makati City on Wednesday. REM ZAMORA

Some 5-6 million people are expected to participate in the July 30 Metro Manila shake drill to test the resiliency of the people in case a 7.2-magnitude earthquake or stronger hits the metropolis, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said on Wednesday.

“A total of 538 organizations have signified their intent to join the drill. All public and private schools and universities will join, as well as hospitals, religious sectors, business process outsourcing companies, business groups, malls and even transport groups,” MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said in a news briefing with the Inquirer.

The exercise will be held simultaneously from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. across the National Capital Region (NCR). A separate nighttime drill will be conducted in the Ortigas business district in Pasig City from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Two hours before the drill, Tolentino said the National Telecommunications Commission would have a text blast informing the public that an earthquake drill would cover the entire Metro Manila.

To signal the start of the drill, sirens from fire trucks and barangays (villages) will blare, church bells will ring and fire alarms will go off.

4 quadrants

Tolentino earlier announced the division of the NCR into four quadrants for faster disaster response under its contingency plan called Oplan Metro Yakal.

He explained that in these four quadrants, different scenarios will also happen on July 30:

— For the north sector (Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon and Quezon City), a hospital medical triage and relief will take place with the Veterans Memorial Medical Center golf course designated as their evacuation site.

— South sector cities of Makati, Taguig, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Las Piñas and the municipality of Pateros will have debris clearing simulation. The assigned evacuation site for the area is the Villamor Air Base golf course.

— The cities of Navotas, Manila and Pasay in the west sector will have fire drills for a massive fire scenario near the Intramuros Golf Course.

— The east sector of Marikina and Pasig City will have a simulation of collapsed buildings near the Light Rail Transit Line 2 Santolan Station.

Command center

Aside from these areas, Tolentino said the MMDA would also have a command center along Macapagal Avenue, which will be linked to the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City where the President will be based in case of a strong quake, expected to cause about P2.3 trillion in damage.

“The command center in Macapagal will be interconnected with all the four quadrants and it will also be the mass burial site,” Tolentino explained.

Other scenarios

He added that there would also be other scenarios in specific areas like:

— Ayala-Glorietta area in Makati, where high-ladder rescue operations will be done involving the Bureau of Fire Protection.

— Eastwood area, where there will be a medical triage involving residential tenants of high-rise condominiums.

— Rajah Sulayman-Diamond Hotel area, where a seaborne medical evacuation will be simulated using a naval ship of the Philippine Coast Guard to transport quake victims.

— Along the Pasig River, where MMDA ferry boats and Coast Guard vessels will transport casualties from Sta. Ana to the Intramuros area in Manila.

— In front of SM Megamall, where there will be a collapse structure scenario between Mega Mall Buildings A and B.

Night drill

No roads will be closed, but Tolentino said transport groups had expressed their intention to stop for 45 seconds during the drill to show their participation.

He said commuters and motorists should expect slight inconvenience near SM Megamall.

For the nighttime drill, he said people should expect heavy traffic from Julia Vargas to San Miguel and other portions of Ortigas, as power would be cut off in this area for the earthquake simulation.

Pasig City Mayor Maribel Eusebio earlier said the evening scenario would involve about 100 casualties in the area where the drill would be held.

“We want to see how we can respond to those who will be injured and how the police force, the Red Cross, the Bureau of Fire Protection and other concerned agencies will act in the event of a disaster,” Eusebio added.

Military choppers, according to Tolentino, will circle around Metro Manila during the entire drill.

The agency earlier said that there would be mini-national drills among the different sectors on Thursday with the final meeting set on July 28 during which all the details would be finalized. –Maricar B. Brizuela