CAMP
AGUINALDO, Quezon City – The Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) will join the nationwide earthquake drill to test its disaster
preparedness and capability at the General Headquarters grandstand here
tomorrow, November 14 at 9 am.
The drill will be held simultaneously at
the GHQ grandstand, Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) and Quezon City
Memorial Circle.
AFP will serve as the communication
center while a makeshift hospital will be established at the VMMC. The ceremony
will be held at the Quezon City Memorial Circle where a scenario of a 7.2
magnitude earthquake hits the city.
Among the assets that will be utilized
during the drill are two air ambulance aircraft from the Philippine Air Force
that will participate in the casualty air evacuation simulation exercise; and
two air ambulance aircraft from Joint Task Force NCR for the simulated casualty
evacuation from GHQ grandstand to VMMC.
The AFP’s Communication Electronic and
Information System will establish a communication system for Humanitarian
Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) monitoring operation center at the GHQ
grandstand and at the AFP-OCD coordination center in VMMC.
They will also set up a system that will
link them to their counterparts at the different engagement area in VMMC
regional level and Quezon City Memorial Circle for disaster response and
monitoring.
A cellular broadcast team from the AFP
Reserve Command (AFPRESCOM) will be organized for text blast operations during
the activity.
The AFP General Headquarters and
Headquarters Service Command will provide Ambu-medic team from Camp Aguinaldo
Station Hospital for the evacuation of scenario victims from Brgy. Socorro
Quezon City to GHQ helipad for casualty evacuation.
The Army’s 525th Engineering Combat
Battalion Search Rescue and Retrieval Teams will join in the collapse structure
search and rescue at the VMMC.
The activity is part of the quarterly
simultaneous Earthquake Drill organized by the National Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Council together with partner agencies such as DOH, BFP, PNP,
PVOCS and other NDRRMC member agencies.
Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista along
with Secretary of National Defense, Voltaire Gazmin, NDRRMC Executive Director
USEC Alexander Pama and AFP Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. John S. Bonafos are
expected to attend tomorrow’s ceremony that will be held at Quezon City
Memorial Circle.
The conduct of earthquake drills is a
constant practice in AFP camps to further test its capability to respond to
earthquake disasters.
Just recently, the nation commemorated
the 1st year anniversary of the 2013 Bohol earthquake that occurred on October
15, 2013.
The 7.2 magnitude earthquake which hit
the island province affected the whole Central Visayas region, particularly
Bohol and Cebu. More than 200 people were reported dead, more than 900 were
injured and 73,000 structures were damaged after the deadly earthquake.
The AFP was among the agencies that
immediately deployed first respondents o help the victims of said earthquake
which claimed over 200 lives.
“Climate change and the natural
disasters that it brings are our biggest enemies today. We must always prepare
ourselves and the country as a whole in calamitous events such as strong
earthquakes that could hit the metropolis anytime,” said AFP Chief of Staff,
General Gregorio Pio P. Catapang Jr.
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