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Palace expects more people to join Metro-wide shake drill next week

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MALACANANG, Philippines – Malacanang encouraged the public Saturday to support the Metro Shake Drill of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), which will be conducted on June 22.
“Ang mahalaga dito ay ‘yung kasapatan ng kahandaan ng ating mga mamamayan,” Communication Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr said in a radio interview on Saturday.
“Ang isa pang pagbabago na nais gawin ng ating mga awtoridad dito ay ‘yung pagkakaroon ng debriefing or assessment session pagkatapos nang ehersisyo.”
“Bigyan po natin ng ganap na pagsuporta itong isasagawang Metro Shake Drill. Sa NCR, ang tawag yata dito ay Oplan Metro Yakal.”
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority will be the lead agency in carrying out the shake drill on Tuesday, Coloma said.
MMDA will be supported by other agencies like the National Disaster Risk Reducation and Management Council, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
The drill will simulate a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and the MMDA and other agencies want to conduct a well-organized exercise hoping more people to participate.
Organizers divided Metro Manila into different quadrants and said it also has local application.
“Ang mahalaga diyan ay mag-participate lahat ng mga mamamayan. Ang objective kasi dito ay ‘yung ganap na paglahok ng pinaka-maraming mamamayan,” Coloma told dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.
More participants are encouraged to join because in the National Capital Region alone it is estimated to have a daytime population of 14 million.
Some of these people are workers from nearby areas such as Cavite, Laguna, and Bulacan that’s why drill organizers are including people from those areas as part of Wednesday’s exercise, Coloma said.

Criselda Cabangon David, a happy mother of two kids, is a full-time Sociologist at the City Government of Lucena, Quezon Province. She is currently the Managing Editor of Ang Diaryo Natin Sunday News, a weekly local community newspaper in the Philippines and an active member of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.