CITY OF MALOLOS — Officials and employees of the National Food Authority (NFA) Bulacan joined Thursday’s conduct of the 2nd Quarter National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill.
Led by newly-designated provincial manager Elvira C. Obaña, the earthquake drill was held at the NFA Bulacan office compound in this city yesterday afternoon.
Prior to the drill proper, an orientation was given to the employees to guide them on how to properly react before, during and after an earthquake. It was administered through collaboration of NFA Bulacan management, the provincial disaster risk reduction and management office and 106th Squadron of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA).
Teams and their respective leaders were given specific roles should an emergency occur. These roles were demonstrated during the drill such as those of the incident management team, rescue, marshals of different sections and team to administer first aid.
As the siren bellowed, employees went out of their rooms covering their head in line towards the identified evacuation area and performed the “duck, cover and hold” technique for protection.
PDRRMO Bulacan officers were on site to review the drill and noted aspects that need improvement.
“Given that this was the first participation of NFA Bulacan to an earthquake drill, the results were relatively fair as per the assessment of PDRRMO-Bulacan and the PCGA-106th SQUADRON. Though there are areas that we still have to improve on,” Obaña said. –Albert B. Lacanlale