The Department of Social Welfare and Development – National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) joined the national government agencies in the conduct of the first quarter nationwide simultaneous earthquake drill recently entitled “Oplan Pagyanig.” It handled the intake of the identifying information of the victims and the provision of family starter kits and food packs through the Disaster Assistance Family Access Card (DAFAC).

DAFAC is a comprehensive data intake tool developed by the DSWD to immediately capture salient and necessary information about the victims in a brisk and responsive manner.

Meanwhile, different scenarios were depicted during the exercise. These were derived from the results of the Metro Manila Earthquake Impact Reduction Study, 2004 (MMEIRS, 2004) where an earthquake with an estimate intensity of 7.2 magnitude is set to happen along the West Valley fault, showing the worst case scenario for Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

 

Part of the drill scenario is the simulation of rescue operations in the onslaught of an earthquake. The MMDA Rescue Team demonstrated the proper way of conducting a rescue operation, particularly when the victims are trapped under a collapsed building. All participating national government agencies took their part seriously during the simulation.

Convened by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), “Oplan Pagyanig” was held at the LRT line 2 Santolan station depot, and was headed by the Office of Civil Defense – National Capital Region. (OCD-NCR) and the LGU of Marikina.

The participating national government agencies include the DOH, the DILG, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the NCR Police Office (NCRPO), and the Joint Task Force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (JTF-AFP). These form the incident command post (ICP) of the sub-emergency operations center (Sub-EOC) of the east quadrant located at Santolan station of the LRT 2. ###