The Security and Safety Office (SSO) of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs (OVCCA) and personnel of all offices in the Abelardo G. Samonte Hall participated in the 2nd Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) on June 8.
The NSED is a quarterly activity that intends to enhance community preparedness and readiness of personnel in handling disasters or emergency situations like earthquakes through the conduct of drills and simulation exercises, i.e., emergency evacuation, search and rescue, and medical response.
The simulation began at 9am with the siren sounding off to signal people inside AG Samonte Hall to “duck, cover, and hold,” and thereafter, immediately vacate their respective offices and gather at the designated evacuation area.
Jonathan D. Maliwat, chief of the Crisis and Emergency Response Unit of SSO, facilitated the activation of the Incident Command System (ICS).
ICS is a model for command, control, and coordination of emergency response and developing incident objectives prioritizing life and safety.
Ricardo Reveche of HRDO was the drill’s incident commander while the office heads were given responsibility for operations, planning, logistics, and finance/administration, alongside the Safety, Liaison and Public Information Officer.
Following the procedures that were carried out under the given scenario of having two victims trapped inside the building, search and rescue were immediately conducted as per the incident commander’s order.
Medical response was quickly carried out after which the victims were ferried to the hospital by the University Health Service (UHS) ambulance for supplementary treatment.
At the end of the activity, each personnel who played important roles in the ICS briefly stated their impressions.
Officials and representatives of the Records Management Office, Accounting Office, Cashier’s Office, Budget Management Office, UPLB Information Technology Center, Legal Office, College of Agriculture and Food Science Dean’s Office, Office of Public Relations, and Human Resources and Development Office also gave their messages in support of the quarterly conduct of the earthquake drill to improve disaster preparedness and resilience among units and offices in the campus.
Atty. Eric Paul D. Peralta, director of SSO, acknowledged and congratulated everyone who participated.
He assured that his office would remain committed to doing these kinds of activities because they are mandated by law and are necessary.
The closing message of Vice Chancellor (VC) for Community Affairs Roberto P. Cereno was delivered on his behalf by AVC Benevieve Villanueva.
He reminded everyone to be committed to preparedness on earthquake safety measures and evacuation procedures to minimize the impact of future disasters and to build a resilient community that can withstand all adversities that come its way. (Grizelda Penales-Marza)
This article was originally published on the UPLB website.