The executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) yesterday said that it has submitted to Malacañang a National Disaster Plan in case a massive earthquake hit Metro Manila in the near future.
Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, who is also the concurrent administrator of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) made the revalation during the Manila Bulletin Hot Seat session at the MB headquarters in Intramuros, Manila.
Joining Jalad in the session were OCD Assistant Secretary Kristoffer James Purisima, Director Raffy Alejandro, Director Vicente Tomazar, Director Rodrigo Diapana and NDRRMC spokeswoman Romina Marasigan.
Jalad said he briefed President Duterte about the plan during the Cabinet meeting last Monday.
“And we also told him that we are trying to rationalize our contigency plan for an earthquake that will likely effect Metro Manila and what we right now is the Oplan Yakal Plus developed by the NDRRMC and the Metro Manila Development Authority or (MMDA),” he said.
Jalad explained that they are trying to rationalize their contigency plan because in the event that the West Valley fault moves, it will not only be confined to Metro Manila alone or NCR but also affect parts of Region 3 and Region IVA.
“So we must have a contingency plan that will cover those areas and we are also including the participation or response of the regions outside the areas,” Jalad said.
“So we are looking at the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) in Luzon as first wave of assisting regions and some regions in Visayas and Mindanao as the second wave,” he added.
Jalad also said that they have as template the response cluster system and each of those clusters (11) will have designated leads.
The clusters include Health, Education, Search and Rescue, Peace and Order and Logistics.
“In the Education cluster they should look at safety of schools. The Search and Rescue and Retrival Cluster which will be led by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with the participation of other agencies which have urban search and rescue capability, and other clusters rapid emergency telecom teams led by OCD,” he said.
(FRANCIS WAKEFIELD)
