Monthly earthquake drill eyed for Mintal

The Barangay Council of Mintal plans to conduct a monthly earthquake drill as it sits on top of the Dacudao fault system, identified by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (DOST-Philvocs).
The fault line is identified as an active line that could trigger a destructive earthquake in Davao City, Mintal Punong Barangay Rey Amador Bargamento said.
“Part of the plan is a monthly earthquake drill to be conducted per Purok to increase awareness and to make people realize how urgent it is,” Bargamento told TIMES.
The Barangay Council also intensified the awareness of the residents, particularly for Puroks 17, 14, 13, 12,11, and 5 that sit directly on top of the fault line.
“I told them that what households may be affected. that even includes the barangay hall and our gym and the households near the riverbanks,” Bargamento said.
According to the official, they are more serious in implementing the earthquake drill this time, especially that there are many residents who just play around during exercises.
“I encouraged all the purok leaders to educate their constituents to take this seriously and not just an opportunity to take selfies. Hence, I really decided to do house-to-house awareness campaign this year,” he said.
The house-to-house awareness campaign is also eyed to introduce to the residents the path of fault line and also gather their support for the upcoming nationwide earthquake drill.
On Feb. 21, the Office of Civil Defense XI is set to lead the 1st Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) where Barangay Mintal is the pilot area.