To heighten the level of preparedness of learners, teachers, and other personnel during an earthquake, the Department of Education (DepEd) is set to participate in the 1st Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) on March 31, 2017 at 2 PM.
This effort is spearheaded by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) through its counterpart in DepEd—the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS).
Aside from raising awareness, NSED also aims to test and evaluate the effectiveness of various contingency plans, systems, and policies of schools and other DepEd field offices in the eventuality of disasters and/or emergencies.
Moreover, this effort also intends to test the coordination and communication mechanism of the participants during response operations. It will also help the public to better understand the command and control mechanism in emergency and disaster operations of the NDRRMC.
Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones enjoins all DepEd field offices, schools, and learners to participate in this earthquake preparedness activity. Briones also conveyed her message to participants to share their learnings from this activity with their families and communities.
To further engage the public in this activity, DepEd supports the Department of National Defense (DND) Office of Civil Defense’s (OCD) Bida Ang Handa Campaign, which aims to gather the maximum number of NSED commitments on social media.
This campaign involves the participation of the government, private, and other sectors and stakeholders by generating a photo and/or video of individual/s doing a preparedness activity with the fan sign or spoken statement, “Mag-da-Duck, Cover and Hold kami sa March 31, 2017! Dahil bida ang handa!”
#BidaAngHanda is the official hashtag for this year’s NSED.