PRESS RELEASE

February 18, 2010

 

San Juan Mayor JV Ejercito and DND Sec. Norberto Gonzales lead Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill

 

San Juan City Mayor Joseph Victor G. Ejercito and Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary and National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Chairperson Norberto Gonzales led the Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill held at the San Juan Elementary School on February 17, 2010, with the theme, "Pag Alerto, Malayo sa Peligro".

 The program started with the pressing of the alarm button signaling the official start of the nationwide simultaneous earthquake drill, followed by the actual evacuation and rescue operations headed by RESCUE San Juan Head Councilor Vincent Pacheco and San Juan Elementary School Principal, Mr. Rolando De Lemos who acted as Incident Ground Commander. Students and teachers from the San Juan Elementary School participated in the drill, with selected students acted as earthquake victims to make the demonstration believable.

 “Earthquake preparedness doesn’t stop with this drill. We encourage all students to share what you have learned today to the people in your homes so that they, too, will know what to do in case a tragedy like this happen,” stated PHIVOLCS Director Renato Solidum.

 City hall employees from the RESCUE San Juan and the City Health Offices, Red Cross San Juan volunteers and some barangay offials showed the proper handling of the victims.

 “We commend the City of San Juan for your preparedness in disasters, specially your Mayor, Mayor JV, who have acquired various equipment to address these occurrences we can only wait to happen. Hindi natin masasabi kung kailan mangyayari, pero mabuti nang tayo ay handa kung sakaling ito ay mangyari. San Juan is lucky not to be included in the most dangerous spots to earthquake because of the land stability, therefore, I appeal to all of you, we should not only be prepared to help ourselves during disasters, we should also prepare ourselves on how we can be help to people more affected by these disasters,” Secretary Gonzales said during his speech.

 Also present in the ceremony were PHIVOLCS Director Renato Solidum and representatives from the Department of Education (DepEd) – NCR, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Public Information Agency (PIA), Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Philippine National Police (PNP) and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

Reference person: Lheng del Castillo-Alejo @ tel. nos.: 7261866/7213 (0917)8878148