Contingency plan for major earthquake scenario launched

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a National Energy Contingency Plan (NECP) to ensure that the energy sector remains prepared and resilient for a magnitude 7.2 earthquake scenario in the Greater Metro Manila Area.

According to the DOE, the NECP’s main objectives are focused on the priority restoration of electric services to identified critical facilities, allocation and distribution of petroleum products to identified critical facilities, and expeditiously addressing the associated effects on domestic socio-political stability.

The agency said that through the Task Force on Energy Resiliency (TFER), which it will spearhead, the NECP for “The Big One” will be automatically activated and be the responsible organization of the energy sector for disaster response until the early recovery phase.

The TFER will be the principal organization that will coordinate with the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) logistics and response clusters.

It will also respond to the immediate energy restoration needs of the country.

TFER comprises various energy stakeholders and participants from the power and oil industries.

“The Philippines is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the world. Each disaster wreaks havoc not only on the country’s economy and the lives of the Filipino people,” the DOE said.

“The energy sector and its system reliability and supply sufficiency have long been experiencing the effects of these natural disasters,” the agency said.

The NECP for The Big One is a collaboration among energy sector stakeholders wherein protocols from their respective contingency, emergency restoration, and disaster response plans were harmonized.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla expressed his gratitude to TFER and partners from the government and non-government organizations for coming up with the first-ever sectoral contingency plan, which is a commitment to work together and deliver the expected actions from the energy sector in times of calamities.