The drill is part of the National Disasater Coordinating Council (NDCC) Four-Point Plan of Action on Disaster Preparedness particularly on the aspect of public information through the conduct of drill and exercises.
"Following the recent earthquake in Yogyakarta, Indonesia President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's emphasis the need to conduct earthquake drills focusing on schools since children are most vulnerable when earthquake strikes," said Department of National Defense Secretary and NDCC Chairman Avelino Cruz.
The drill, according to Cruz, will also test the effectiveness of the guidelines on How to Conduct Earthquake Drills in Schools, which was issued by the Philippine Insititue of Volcanology and Seismology.
Some 42,000 schools nationwide participated. The Department of Education in a Memorandum emphasized that the specific aims of the drills are to ensure the safety of the school population, help school administrators to design a specific plan of response for earthquakes, train the school populace on the proper action and response, and also to test various elements of the response plan designed by the School Management Committee.
The NDCC through the Regional Disaster Coordinating Councils, Regional DepEd offices and Regional Offices of the Civil Defense are evaluating the effectiveness of the drill as they had required schools to submit evaluation forms, which would be useful tools to improve future disaster drills.
In Davao City, among the schools participating in the nationwide drills, is the Davao City National High School and the high school unit of the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Davao University. Both schools, which are among the biggest in the region, have a combined high school population of about 10,000 students. -- by RG Alama, Philippine Information Agency
