by Rene V. Carbayas
ISABELA CITY, Basilan – Over
700 students and teachers from Maluso town recently participated in the
nationwide earthquake drill at Claret School of Maluso.
At the sound of the siren, the earthquake
drill started and students executed the evacuation procedures and simulated
rescue and response to victims. Participants evacuated at the open ground of
the campus and rescue teams led by Philippine Red Cross volunteers were immediately
deployed to recover the victims, conduct first aid, and bring them to open
field.
Before the drill, an orientation about
disaster preparedness and earthquake drill was conducted with resource persons
from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD)-BASULTA, the Philippine Information
Agency in Basilan, and the Philippine Red Cross.
In his message, Maluso town Mayor Hani Bud
underscored the importance of the drill to inculcate in the people’s consciousness
to be always prepared in times of disaster.
“We are privileged that the national
government agencies hold this activity here in Maluso to give us basic
information on what shall we do in times of calamities,” the mayor said as he
recognized the vulnerability of the country to natural calamities.
He underscored the importance of acquiring
basic knowledge and information about calamities and disaster in order to
appropriately respond and prevent widespread consequences or repercussions.
He said that in spite of calamities like fire,
typhoons, earthquake, that frequently hit the country, “we have not created
concrete measures in order to lessen the damage.”
“I still have to give my order to the DRRM
officer to ensure that you can reach us 24/7 in times of emergency. Your local
government is always ready to respond to calamities and emergencies,” he
declared.
He urged the participants and students to
“walk the talk” and “practice what we preach” after acquiring information from
different speakers and called on the public to be proactive.
Dionisio Mondejar and Rene Mabilog of OCD led
the orientation on Disaster Information Nationwide Awareness (DINA) that
outlined the procedures for earthquake drills.
Meanwhile, Claret School of Maluso President, Fr.
Julius Boado, CMF was grateful and expressed that the school will always be
open for this type of activity, especially for the good and welfare of the
community.
“I hope this will not be the first and the
last as this is the desire of Claret community to collaborate and interact for
the good of the municipality and the province,” he said.
Observers noted that students must imbibe in their
consciousness the value of the drill in order to properly respond to disasters
and calamities that may strike Maluso town in the future.