Metro Manila Development Authority employees participate during the third quarter nationwide simultaneous earthquake drill at the MMDA head office in Pasig City on September 7, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
MANILA -- Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum on Monday urged the public to take earthquake drills seriously.
This, after the strong quake in Southern Mindanao killed at least 8 people and destroyed many buildings.
At the sideline of the Philippine Startup Week, Solidum, who was the former chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), revealed he has seen videos of the quake and noticed that many people were not following the "duck, cover, and hold" practice, which is normally taught during quake drills.
“I saw videos where people did the ‘duck cover and hold,’ but I still saw some people just running around during the shaking and that is where they are most vulnerable,” said Solidum.
Running around while the earth is shaking is dangerous, he said, because debris may fall on people, which could be fatal. He is appealing to Filipinos to regularly join earthquake drills because strong quakes like the one felt in Sarangani can happen again.
“Seriously participate in our earthquake drill… It will happen again in some other areas,” he asserted.
Solidum also asked local government units to conduct quake drills, as well as to check the integrity of buildings. Many houses and even establishments were damaged by the magnitude 6.8 quake last Friday. He also warns that aftershock may still happen in the days to come.
“Have the buildings that were damaged evaluated by local building officials and if they are not suited for settlement, people should not use this or have this repaired," he added.
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