The Davao City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO) has observed an improved performance and participation of both public and private sectors during the third Citywide Shake-Out Drill conducted on Friday.
“The drill (was) very impressive. We can see now the participation of other agencies. We can observe that every year, our performance is always improving,” CDRRMO chief Alfredo Baloran said on the conduct of a full scale earthquake simulation.
All city government offices as well as its private sector counterparts gathered at the Incident Command Post (ICP) established at Crocodile Park as members of the response cluster.
Baloran commended the participation of school and business establishments in the city.
“Before I came here, I went around the city. I visited the schools and establishments and I was very impressed that they executed the ‘Duck, Cover and Hold’ technique,” he said.
The scenario of the simulation included the collapse of San Pedro Hospital and minor fire of the nearby school that was followed by a retrieval operations.
City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) chief Emmanuel Jaldon said they were able to properly manage the simulation scenario.
According to Jaldon, other than determining the capability of the agencies to respond to disasters, the main focus of the drill is to identify the lapses and improve it.
From last year’s lapses during the conduct of the same drill, Jaldon said they were able to address it especially on communications problems.
During the drill, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Information and communications technology (ICT) were co-located for an effective response during evacuation.
