BAGUIO CITY , Philippines – At least 50 students of the Baguio City National High School suffered injuries during an earthquake drill that went awry yesterday morning.
At least 30 of them passed out while others sustained foot injuries and sprain, as students apparently panicked while rushing to the exits of the school buildings, said Inspector Virgilio Hidalgo, city police spokesman.
The quake drill that started at around 11:30 a.m. yesterday was the last of the exercises of the school at per year level. The school has 6,500 students.
The drill was planned by the local civil defense office, the city fire department, and school officials.
Alfredo Tolentino, head of the school’s disaster preparedness committee, admitted that the students were not informed of yesterday’s drill, only the teachers, to see how they would respond to such an exercise. But he insisted that they did not break any protocol.
Tolentino insisted that the school has ample exits considering its student population, but that it shocked them when the students “acted†like a real earthquake had struck.