Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez
The city government of Parañaque is mobilizing its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (DRRMO), General Services Office (GSO), and Office of the Building Official (OBO) teams to ensure the city remains resilient against the severely powerful earthquake that is expected to hit Metro Manila anytime dubbed as “The Big One.”
Parañaque City Mayor Edwin Olivarez said although the city is outside the major fault line, the roles of the city government and its concerned agencies remain crucial in ensuring the residents' safety and well being during calamities and disasters.
He explained the DRRMO continues to conduct education and awareness campaigns in the city’s barangays and communities to equip everyone with the knowledge on what to do in case a major earthquake hits the city.
According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the Marikina Valley Fault System or the “West Valley Fault,” runs through Quezon City, Marikina City, Makati City, Pasig City, Taguig City, and Muntinlupa City, some of which are Paranaque neighborhood cities.
The mayor said the DRRMO has been conducting a series of earthquake drills in various city public elementary and secondary schools for the past six months.
Olivarez said the schools' participation in the Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) aims to reinforce a school-based disaster preparedness curriculum and ensure students gain intuition of protecting themselves when emergencies or disasters occur.
Structural audits of vital infrastructures in the city, including public elementary, secondary, and tertiary school buildings, were also conducted on Oct. 13 and 14.
The structural audit, in accordance with the Department of Education - National Capital Region (DepEd-NCR) advisory, mandated the OBO to perform an audit and inspection of public schools within the vicinity of Parañaque to ensure the safety, stability, and structural soundness of school buildings following the recent series of earthquakes and identify any potential hazards that may compromise the welfare of learners and personnel.