This was all the time needed for 1,600 high school students and officials to get to safety during yesterday morning’s earthquake drill held at a public school in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
Officials said they were satisfied with the result of the evacuation exercise conducted by the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) at the Cayetano Arellano High School located near Claro M. Recto Avenue.
The activity was supervised by school officials as well as the Manila Police District, City Hall and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
School principal Dra. Adelina Antonio-Espina said their school had been chosen to be the site for the Second Simultaneous National Earthquake Safety Drill for Public and Private Schools.
Schools conduct regular reaction and evacuation exercises to train students and teachers and lessen cases of serious casualties in the event of disasters such as earthquakes and large-scale fires.
"Even before we were chosen as the pilot school for this activity, we have had earthquake drills in the past. In fact, we do it as often as two or three times a year. Living close to the former site of the Ruby Tower has made us cautious," Antonio-Espina said.
On Aug. 2, 1968, the six-story Ruby Tower building in Binondo collapsed during an earthquake, leaving hundreds of people trapped underneath the rubble.
Antonio-Espina said the building was located near their school.
For the training exercise, they only had three days to prepare and some teachers had to sleep at the school to finish their preparations.
But all their hard work paid off since there were no hitches in the activity, "thanks to the united faculty and teaching personnel."
The students were in line as they filed out of their classrooms. They carried bags, notebooks and even floormats over their heads to protect them from falling debris. Officials even set medical treatment corners for the injured.
"Practice makes perfect," said Philvocs director Renato Solidum. "The fact that it is called a drill, it means that it has to be repeated every now and then so we can perfect it."
He recalled that holding earthquake drills is necessary so people would know how to react in case of an emergency.
Philvocs said its instruments record 20 earthquakes a day.