Offices of the City Government of Davao and various stakeholders will participate in the city-wide full-scale earthquake and tsunami shakeout drill that will take place on July 26.
City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) Admin and Training Acting Division Head, Lyndon Ancajas said during the I-Speak Media forum held at the City Hall Conference Room on Thursday that stakeholders such as malls, hospitals, schools, establishments, national government offices, condominiums, and barangays in the city have attended preparatory meetings for the shakeout drill in May, June, and early July.
The three sets of meetings that went for a total of four days were held to ensure that citizens would not panic during the drill, and also gathered commitment from the stakeholders on how they would participate in the drill.
“The first round of meeting is for what was about to happen…The second meeting was for their tasking, and in the third and final meeting, we have ironed out details. Wala ma’y ni back out, ni participate man ang tanan (No one backed out, everyone participated),” Ancajas said, adding that they were happy about the stakeholders’ willingness to participate.
“Next week, July 23 will have our floor top exercise kumbaga mag shake out drill mi pero sa mapa lang. Didto we can evaluate and look for adjustments. On the 24th, we will have a communications test, kay i-simulate nato nga walay cellular communication kay linog gud siya nga magnitude 8.3 so basin nangatumba ang tower and walay kurynte ang linya sa poste so we will be focusing mainly on radio communication (Next week, on July 23 we will have our floor top exercise wherein we will have the shakeout drill but only in map. So there we can evaluate and look for adjustments. On the 24th we will have a communication test because we will simulate the lack of cellular communication as this is an earthquake of magnitude 8.3 scenario and the towers may be down, there may also be a lack of power so we will be focusing mainly on radio communication),” Ancajas said.
He said that the purpose of the activity is not just for the preparation of the community but also for the city government to determine how to manage something as catastrophic.
“Ang pinakabuhaton sa city government is to survive gyud kung mahitabo (The very task of the city government is to survive when it happens),” Ancajas said, adding that the city’s leaders will have their tent at the Crocodile Park to plan out how to respond to the situation, rain or shine.
Ancajas said that he is quite confident of the people’s participation since this is the fourth drill of such scale conducted in Davao City.
He also said that this time, signages were put up, sirens in the barangays were installed, coastal cameras were functional and drills were conducted within the city from time to time to prepare for the public’s participation.
The first siren will sound at 9 am on July 26, 2024, for the earthquake, and by 9:05 another siren will be heard for the tsunami drill.
Ancajas reminded the public not to panic upon hearing the sirens and to perform duck, cover, and hold, and as for the tsunami drill, they should listen to the instruction of officials or leaders for safe evacuation. CIO
