More than two years since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) will conduct its first face-to-face National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) on Thursday, Sept. 8.

The ceremonial pressing of the button and evacuation drill for the 3rd Quarter NSED will begin at 9 a.m. at the Ayala Property Management Corporation Headquarters in Makati City, said NDRRMC spokesperson Bernardo Rafaelito Alejandro IV.

“For the first time since the pandemic in 2020, we will be having a face-to-face 3rd Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill. Since the pandemic, it was done via VTC but now, it will be face-to-face and this is in partnership with the Makati City LGU ,” Alejandro said in a public briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Alejandro said that the drill will test the interoperability or the ability of the Makati City LGU and the Ayala Property Management Corporation to work together in the event of a strong earthquake.

Among the scenarios that will be simulated include community evacuation, activation of incident command post, fire suppression, search and rescue in collapsed structures, response to mass casualty incident, and high angle rescue.

He invited work offices, public and private schools, as well as households in Makati City to participate in the earthquake drill and practice their “duck, cover, and hold” when they hear the iconic buzzer which will signal the start of the event. The voluntary drill will also be held simultaneously around the country.

“We hope that the public will support this. This is really important because we all know that the Philippines is in an earthquake-prone area and we experience earthquake almost daily,” he added.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region around the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur.

According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), around 20 earthquakes are recorded per day in the country. Just last July 27, a powerful magnitude 7 earthquake struck Abra and shook nearby areas in Northern Luzon and Metro Manila which killed 11 people and injured 615 others.

Since the occurrence of earthquakes cannot be predicted, the NDRRMC introduced earthquake drills in schools in 2002, which were later expanded to LGUs, to push for quake awareness and preparedness as experts have continuously warned against the possible effects of the so-called “Big One.”

The term is associated with the worst possible scenario that may happen not only in the Greater Metro Manila Area but in every region or province that is vulnerable to high-magnitude earthquakes. One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of the country occured along the Philippine Fault in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija segment in 1645 which spanned 100 kilometers long and generated a 7.9 magnitude temblor, according to Phivolcs.

The earthquake drill has since been a quarterly event until on March 12, 2020 when the 1st Quarter NSED was cancelled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus in the Philippines. Since then, it was done via VTC but problems such as flaky internet connection persistently hampered the NDRRMC's smooth conduct of the drill.