BSP Cebu holds earthquake drill

CEBU, Philippines - A month after a powerful earthquake shook Bohol and Cebu, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Cebu office yesterday conducted an earthquake drill.

The drill was evaluated by Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office led by its operations chief  Alvin Santillana.

BSP got a 100 percent rating on the active participation of employees during the pre-drill orientation, actual drill and post-drill evaluation, which comprised the first half of the assessment.

On the second part, which focused mainly on the execution of the actual drill, the central bank employees got a 99-percent rating.

They got perfect scores in terms of loudness of siren, execution and route of evacuation. But the group got one point deduction on the execution of “duck, cover and hold.”

BSP Cebu Regional Office Director Ma. Lux Berciles said their office is annually conducting earthquake drill to make sure employees do not forget what to do when tremors hit.

The regional office, located beside Cebu Normal University along Osmeña Boulevard, sustained minor cracks and is retrofitting some parts of the building following the October 15 earthquake.

Meanwhile, Berciles said the BSP Tacloban office, which was most recently affected by super typhoon, will tentatively resume operations this Friday.

BSP Cebu Regional Office covers under its jurisdiction the entire Visayas offices.

She said that banks in typhoon-stricken areas are supposed to submit status report to BSP but communication lines have not been totally restored.

BSP Cebu is also set to augment manpower in the Tacloban office, which is located near the severely damaged airport, as soon as operations resume.

Berciles said documents and bills in Tacloban were secured inside water-tight vaults. — (FREEMAN)