Mindanao quakes prompt CDRRMO to launch IEC

CEBU, Philippines — Following the series of powerful earthquakes that rocked Mindanao during the last quarter of this year, the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office immediately launched an information education campaign (IEC) on what to do in case an earthquake hits Cebu.

CDRRMO head Harold Alcontin said his office distributed leaflets to the different barangays, government offices, schools, and other partner agencies. The leaflets contain valuable information on the things to be done during disasters --- earthquake, typhoon, fire, and even during bomb threats.

Alcontin was summoned by the City Council to brief its members on the city’s preparedness amid the multiple strong quakes that hit Mindanao. The question asked by the members of the City Council; “Are we ready to respond to an event of a 6.9 magnitude earthquake?”

Alcontin said that the IEC is part of the preparations. He said the CDRRMO has also prepared an earthquake contingency plan with the multi-agency coordination.

Part of the contingency plan is to regularly participate in the national simultaneous earthquake drill every quarter. During the drill all schools and government organizations are required to participate.

“With the guidance of the Office of the Civil Defense we created the contingency plan for earthquake not only for Cebu, but for the whole province together with the PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology),” said Alcontin.

“So we already have the contingency plan, we see to it that our resources are in place on that particular event, but also for the future in case there is an earthquake we can respond efficiently,” he added.

Alcontin admitted that during the recent assessment conducted by the PHIVOLCS, the city was found to lack the needed teams to respond to collapsed structure. It was recommended that the city government should train more collapse structure teams.

PHIVOLCS has also identified the downtown area, particularly Colon Street, as the worst area to be hit by an earthquake because of the old structures there.

“One of the worst areas in the city is the Colon street because mao na siya ang mga pinaka karaan og buildings,” said Alcontin.

In 2014, the City Council passed a resolution to do a retrofitting of all the buildings in Colon.

The last time Cebu felt a strong quake was 2013 when a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck the neighboring island of Bohol. The earthquake damaged several buildings including the Cebu City Medical Center. (FREEMAN)