Government agencies will hold an earthquake drill today with about 2,000 Mintal residents coming from schools, communities and business establishments expected to participate.
The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) XI will spearhead the activity, which is part of the First Quarter National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED), and will be joined by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, and Barangay Mintal council.
The drill is aimed at increasing awareness among Dabawenyos on what to do during earthquakes to help them mitigate their impact.
OCD XI said in a statement that “Barangay Mintal, an emerging business and residential hub southwest of the city proper and considered as one of the fast-rising growth areas of the City with about 15,000 residents, sits on top of the Dacudao Fault System.”
As identified by the Phivolcs, the fault line is among the six segments of an active Central Davao fault line that could trigger a destructive earthquake in the city.
“The drill is really important since we have not monitored a strong movement of the fault for so long. According to Phivolcs, this could mean a potential danger because the Earth needs to release energy regularly. If not, the energy stored for a long time may cause higher magnitude once an earthquake hits,” Leslie Francisco, information officer of OCD XI, told TIMES.
“Also, the soil composition here in the city is generally soft. Hence, we may feel a stronger intensity. Even with magnitude 6 quake, we may feel intensity 7 or more because of the soil composition,” she added.
According to Francisco, they will also hold similar activities and other awareness campaign activities in other barangays as there are still those that are on top of the segments of the Central Davao fault line.
The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, chaired by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) XI, decided to choose Barangay Mintal as this year’s pilot area timely and fitting especially because the barangay is within two parallel fault systems – Tugbok and Dacudao.
