Pampanga provincial hospital holds fire, earthquake drill

GUAGUA— Approximately 100 personnel and patients of Diosdado P. Macapagal Memorial Hospital (DPMMH) took part in a fire and earthquake drill that was meant to foster awareness and enhance their preparedness in order to prevent casualties.

“The exercise, which had a 7.2 magnitude scenario, covered six stages namely alarm, response (duck, cover, and hold), evacuation, assembly or head counting, incident command system, and mass casualty handling,” Pampanga Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) staff Rowel Tablante said.

PDRRMO and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), together with the Emergency and Disaster Management Unit (EDMU) and Fire and Safety Committee of the host hospital executed the simulated rescue and retrieval operations.

Personnel from PDRRMO, MDRRMO, BFP, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine Red Cross and Philippine Information Agency served as evaluators of the drill.

In his message, DPMMH Administrator Eddie Ponio stressed the importance of preparedness to disasters and hopes that the drill participants will share or cascade whatever learnings they gained from such exercise to their respective families and communities.

“Considering that this is a provincial hospital, it is very crucial that we periodically evaluate the response level and capabilities of our personnel when it comes to disasters so that they can save not only themselves, but also our patients,” Ponio said.

He also commended the continuous unity, coordination and cooperation of the hospital’s personnel in participating in the annual drill and committed to make it more massive and realistic every year to better equip them on what to do during calamities.

This is the sixth year that the hospital conducts the said simulation exercises.

— Marie Joy L.

Simpao/ PIA-3