Impressive. This was how Civil Defense Deputy Administrator for Operations Assistant Secretary Hernando Caraig Jr., who represented Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., described the 2023 third quarter National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) in Bohol as conducted by the Tagbilaran City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (CDRRM) on September 7, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.

With Caraig were Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Director Teresito Bacolcol, Department of Interior and Local Government Usec. for Public Safety Serafin Barreto Jr., and Office of Civil Defense 7 officials.

The drill was the CDRRMO’s opportunity to present their coordinated response, rescue and retrieval including post-disaster relief following the scenario when a 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook the city and largely affected major infrastructure, isolating the city from the rest of Bohol.

Held as a regular quarterly drill simultaneous in all establishments, offices and schools, it aims to make disaster management a habit that people can automatically switch to. The NSED is organized nationwide by the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Council to test the  efficiency and usefulness of the preparedness, response and recovery plans.

It also tests the systems and policies of the local government units, offices and schools; to evaluate the effectiveness of contingency plan; to test the coordination and communication mechanism during response operations, with the end goal of making everyone aware and familiar with what to do in times of disaster.

For Tagbilaran City, at the sounding off of the siren indicating the start of the earthquake simulation, everyone in the covered shelter at the old Tagbilaran City Airport performed the "duck, cover, and hold." After a minute later, the shelter occupants evacuated the facility in a swift and orderly manner.

Immediately, with power and radio communications down, the city mayor, who is the incident command system commander, ordered activation of the CDRRM Incident Command Team to focus on the response management during the event. She ordered the deployment of the city DRRMO’s Mobile Incident Command Post, a vehicle drawn command post fitted with solar and wind power as well as a back-up generator, CCTV cameras, briefing room, and single bunk bed for resting ICT members to assure round-the-clock operations.

The Mobile Incident Command Post also has a radio base and satellite communications capability as it accepts spot reports and situation updates from the city barangays, the provincial DRRM Office, the inter-agency Emergency Operations Center, the OCD and the Regional DRRMC to coordinate response operations.

A report of mass casualty incident in the city college prompted the Incident Commander to deploy the City’s Emergency Medical Services to the site. The IC commander also coordinated with the PDRRM’s emergencmy medical services arm, TARSIER 117, as well as the Philippine Army’s reserve force for mass casualty incident operations.

Upon the responder’s arrival on scene, they immediately assessed the seriousness of the injuries to prioritize patients according to seriousness of injuries, to manage the flow of victims in health facilities, and let support facilities handle victims with less life-threatening injuries.

While doing this, the Philippine Army set up its Advance Medical Post: a temporary facility that acts as a primary hospital, manned by doctors and nurses from the city’s prime care medical facilities so victims with more serious injuries can be given initial treatment before they are sent to a capable medical facility.

Another report came into the ICT through the mobile command post: a collapsed building may have trapped two missing persons, exact locations unknown.

For this, the incident commander deployed the CDRRM Search, Rescue, Retrieval Team (SRRT) equipped with building walls breaching apparatus: victim locators in vibraphone and vibrascopes. When the victims’ locations are pinpointed, the team plans for the extraction using a variety of tools: chain saws, circular saws, rescue hammers and mallets, spine boards.

Using a megaphone, the SRRT leader calls the victims to possibly locate those capable of responding, and using the vibraphone, they listen to the slightest sound and plan out an extraction plan, careful not to cause any more collapse and risk pinning the victim. As the team sifts through the ruble, they methodically mark rooms covered by the search to lead other search teams to cover more areas.

As soon as the victims have been located and extricated, the SRRT team is deployed yet to another mission.

The earthquake, unfortunately, caused gas leaks that the Incident Command Team called on the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for fire suppression by fire engine. As the fire was contained, the BFP team leader reported its mission as accomplished, to which they are sent back to base to wait for its next assignment.

As the earthquake damaged supermarkets and food bodegas, fear of food shortage prompts people to go out and loot public and private food storages, which was immediately reported to the incident command that also deployed the Philippine National Police Civil Disturbance Management Platoon and the BFP for water cannon support.

After arrests and investigation, the PNP reported to the IC Team, which also relayed the looting to the city mayor, who also announced that the City Social Welfare and Development Office start their relief operations.

As this was going on, the Incident Management team receives a report from the OCD of a Rapid Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (RDANA) Team from the Regional DRRM arriving via chopper as the only possible entry to the quake-damaged city.

When the RDANA team arrived, they checked in at the Mobile Incident Command Post, which was also reported to the city mayor as responsible official and recommends the de-escalation of the disaster response while awaiting for the RDANA. The mayor then orders the Incident Command Team to focus on assisting the RDANA, upon whose recommendations the city would implement.

As this was ongoing, the city Sangguniang Panlungsod, in emergency session, resolved to declare a state of emergency for the release of the necessary funds for more disaster response operations.

With all of this happening in an hour, after the mustering of response teams and major players, Office of the Civil Defense Administrator Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno praised the flawless turn of events and the high level of coordination that allowed faster and more efficient response time. He said that they have been going around the country building capacities especially for areas that have experienced severe calamities like Bohol.

"For Tagbilaran City, we are amazed at the level of response," Nepomuceno said, citing the close coordination among agencies and the PDRRMC and CDRRMC. (RAHC/PIA7 Bohol)