Datu Odin Sinsuat, MAGUINDANAO- The Office of
Civil Defense-ARMM gathered once more today, 14 July 2016 members of “Emergency
Response Cluster” of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Council-ARMM and other partners for a tabletop exercise in pursuit to the
upcoming conduct of “Multi-Hazard Simulation Drill” slated to take place
sometime in the first week of August 2016.
Ron Aray, DOH-ARMM HEMS Focal, said that
before anything else, the cluster should identify first the capacity of each
and every responder.
“This is a pre-requisite since we are going
to utilize the Incident Command System (ICS) approach," said Aray.
Engr. Amier Ashan Aplal, OCD-ARMM Operations
Section Chief, has detailed in the meeting the two (2) phases of the drill, the
earthquake and the scenario.
“Earthquake includes alarm and response,
evacuation, assembly and headcount. For the Pre-Scenario Preparation (Set up
the EOC and ICS), these include the establishment of a command, the Incident
Command Post (ICP), staging area, triage area and other emergency post, and the
communication post. We will activate the Response Cluster together with the
Rapid Emergency Telecommunications Team (RETT) Composition” said Aplal.
Meanwhile, Aplal discussed the upcoming
scenarios which include Mass Casualty, Fire Incident, and Civil Disturbance.
“In the Mass Casualty Scenario, at least 622,
257 individuals will be affected after seven (7) coastal municipalities
including Cotabato city will suffer a 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Covering the
wounded, we are going to list down how many victims should we have in
identified locatiions and take note who will take the lead as first responders
and how many are they.,” said Aplal.
As for the “Dead and Missing”, DILG-ARMM DRRM
Focal Mauricio Civiles said the cluster shall identify how many victims should
there be in selected identified areas.
“The protocol for the Management of Dead and
Missing (MDM) shall be arranged. We will also prepare body bags,” said Civiles.
In the event of a Fire Incident, Aplal said
they will identify multiple fire scenario locations and check on equipment and
personnel’s availability.
“We are going to extract victims from burning
buildings. We will also be hands-on in the application of fire extinguisher and
other fire suppressing equipment for the Office of the Regional Governor
employees,” said Aplal.
As for the Civil Disturbance scenario, Aplal
said they possibly will simulate a riot and identify what needs to be done.
Myrna J. Angot, OIC of the Office of Civil
Defense-ARMM, said the drill is significant for there is a growing necessity of
preventing hazards from having such a devastating impact and that enhancing the
resilience of the community in disasters like earthquake and tsunami is a
responsibility of all authorities and stakeholders involved.
“When we are prepared, not only lives and
property can be saved, but a more effective emergency management will also be
enabled,” Angot said.
Further, the drill also conforms with the
national government’s four-point plan on disaster preparedness specifically on
public information, education, communication and disaster response. It was
simultaneously done in government and non-government offices, and selected
schools and establishments around the country.
It is aimed at increasing and ensuring the
safety of the people during and after the earthquake; evacuation of the
affected constituents, with focus on women, children, elderly and persons with
disabilities and in providing medical assistance and relief; train participants
on the proper action and response during an earthquake; and assess various elements
of the response plan designed by the government’s disaster management
committee.
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