Recalling earthquake drill 10 months ago

April 5, 2011, employees at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol held an earthquake drill replete with mock rescue and evacuation (by ambulance).


Jerry Bionat, secretary of the provincial disaster coordinating council, giving instructions on bullhorn.
The first lesson is stop, look, listen; don't panic, don't rush
Employees walking calmly to the exit, their hands covering their head
Building occupants walking out orderly with arms clipped on their heads.

I did not participate directly because I documented the dry run with my camera. However, the lessons I got from the briefing proved useful to us, to me personally. 

When an earthquake struck noon of February 6, 2012, the earthquake drill enabled provincial employees to stage an orderly evacuation. The tremor measured at 6.9 intensity in the Richter Scale at its epicenter in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental.

Once on the ground, they are instructed to go to their designated assembly point per office for a count-off
after the "quake" and occupants of the building having gone out, "rescuers" scoured the building for the "injured".
"Rescuers" evacuating a "casualty"

Though my first instinct was self-preservation by staying away from glass windows, and sidling up against beams or under strong structures to protect my head, my next though was to pull out my camera from my belt pouch to document the evacuation, the real one, that is.



I was able to shoot photos of the evacuation of February 6. 2012 and they are available also in this FB account.

The drill capped with the Red Cross ban distributing food to "evacuacees

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