From a single vantage point at the City Plaza (Lower Quadrant)
At around 10:30 AM, from the Town Plaza fronting both the old City Hall and the San Pedro Apostol Church, came the blast of a single firework that signaled the start of the shake drill commencing with church bells ringing for 15 seconds together with sirens that sounded out for 45 seconds, the supposed length of time of the quake. The Town Plaza was the appointed place where the incident command post would be set up shortly after the shake.
While the siren was going on, the mass of students from the nearby Liceo de San Pedro were orderly lined up coming from an alley that was made into an evacuation chute. They proceeded to the center of the Plaza which is a good enough open area. They walked fast, almost running with their thick notebooks and books as head covers. As soon as they all gathered, they ducked and continued to cover their heads while sirens were still sounding out.
As soon as the sirens were off, five tents began to be set up. A drone camera courtesy of UNTV were overhead, operated by remote, moving around on top of the middle where action was going on to record what was happening through a 360- degree panoramic view turning around several times. Students by now have relaxed, finding their seats on the concrete ground of the plaza.
There drove up a fire truck from the Bureau of Fire Protection to respond to a fire that has started. The public address system was being used to address the people who have become noisy at this particular time. Earlier, for a minute the vehicles around the plaza have stopped and now they have started moving, activities getting back to normal amidst the noise. There are now instructions coming out from the public address system telling the people that the command post is now ready to dispense services and that affected people can now begin to come to them.
We heard some low key singing among the students, laughter during conversations among the young and adults expressing satisfaction that the supposed shaking was over, maybe to ward off impatience while bearing the heat of the sun. Ambulances kept arriving one by one carrying supposed casualties that needed medical attention. Bloody victims have started to be unloaded from the stretchers.
The tents fully set up now and operational: the Mess/Kitchen Section where Mayor Lourdes Cataquiz was and giving instructions to the coordinator, staff started to dispense food, the Logistics/Relief Section – busy with the classifying of relief goods such as mats and rice for the supposed survivor victims, Administration Section where the people were busy facilitating the signing up/registration for all the people involved in the emergency drill (at actual scenarios, these would be people that need to be accounted for) , Incident Command Post Section- busy with their communication activities, the Operations Section busy with dispatching of orders, the Medical Section where patients/victims are being brought for treatment.
The Public Order and Safety Office took care of traffic and demolition where the supposed debris should be cleared the soonest to facilitate movements along the vital roads and walkways.
There drove up another Ambulance from the San Pedro Aktibo Rescue Crew (SPARC) carrying other casualties. Different trucks along one side of the plaza lined up among which was one from the City Environment and Natural Resources. Then another fire truck from the Fire Auxiliary Unit came by to augment the fire service units already engaged.
Almost seventeen simulated scenarios were conceptualized involving casualties to be responded to became the basis for the drill.
The church in front of the plaza remained open. It’s gate, however was partly barricaded to prevent vehicles from coming inside the compound.
Another blast of a firework shot up into the air to signal the end of the Shake Drill at 11:30 AM.
Then came the part of acknowledgment of all the players, cooperators and supporters in the Shake Drill. Included are: the Store Manager of Puregold- Enrico Contreras, Assistant Team Leader-Margarita Matucan, Administrative Staff – Rowza Carla Banquilsio, Officer-in-Charge- Freddie P. Frago.
The representatives from the Metro Manila Development Authority during the Post Event Assessment Session(facilitated by Administrator Fil Sibulo) thanked the City Mayor for the success of the exercise and for cooperating with the MMDA led activity and cited all participants including the business sector. They gave a Plaque of Appreciation for the City through the Mayor.
From the point of view of preparedness, the whole of the drill was essentially a test for all responding sectors as to how quickly the necessary temporary structures could be set up to dispense vital assistance based on anticipated needs of the would-be affected populace in the event of an earthquake disaster in any locality.
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