Talisay disaster office mulls holding quake drill quarterly
Talisay City Mayor Eduardo Gullas said he noticed that some of the employees were not up to the drill; some employees were slow in exiting to their office and did not cover their heads on their way out of the building
OFFICIALS and workers of Talisay City Government went out of City Hall when an alarm was sounded at 9 a.m. That was the signal of the start of the earthquake drill.
Alvin Santillana, Talisay City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (TCDRRMO) head, said that the participants, including Mayor Eduardo Gullas, were able to vacate City Hall within the fourminute period.
Gullas, however, said he noticed that some of the employees were not up to it.
He said that some employees were slow in exiting to their office, while others did not hide under the table as part of the procedures when earthquake happens.
Gullas said he also noticed that some city employees did not cover their heads on their way out of the building heading to safer ground.
Santillana said that following yesterday’s activity, he plans to include real-time scenarios in the next drill, including the presence of injured persons or using the firefighting skills of City Hall employees.
He said he wants to institutionalize the earthquake drills, and hopes to implement this on a quarterly basis.
When the 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit the Provinces of Cebu and Bohol in 2013, Talisay City Hall was among the heavily damaged structures in Cebu.
It was not used for a week while an assessment on structural stability was being conducted.
For a week, City Hall employees and officials held office at the City Hall grounds until the building was declared safe.