MANILA – Lahat ng mga pampublikong paaralan sa buong bansa ay dapat magsagawa ng unannounced fire at earthquake drills, ayon sa Department of Education (DepEd).
Batay sa DepEd Order (DO) 53, na nilagdaan ni Vice President at Education Secretary Sara Duterte noong Biyernes, ang mga drill na ito ay naglalayong tiyakin ang kahandaan ng mga mag-aaral sa kalamidad.
“Aligned with the Department’s commitment of ensuring [the] safety and well-being of learners and school personnel, all public schools are hereby required to conduct unannounced earthquake and fire drills every first and third week of every month,” sabi ng DO.
Para sa wastong koordinasyon, ang Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Coordinators sa mga paaralan ay dapat makipagtulungan nang malapit sa mga pinuno ng paaralan para sa “pagpaplano, pagpapatupad at pagsubaybay” nito.
“These drills are to ensure that learners are properly guided on what should be done during and after an earthquake or occurrences of fire in schools,” isinaad nito.
“All schools in the National Capital Region (NCR), Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, and Bulacan, shall create a separate and specific disaster plan for a magnitude 7 or higher earthquake,” dagdag nito.
Ipinag-utos ng DepEd sa mga paaralan na ibunyag ang mga planong ito nang detalyado, sakaling may kinalaman ito sa “mass casualties.”
“The plan shall specifically lay down the response should there be a scenario involving mass casualties of learners and personnel,” isinaad nito.
Sinabi ng DepEd na ang “effective preparedness plans” ay napakahalaga sa pagsagip ng mga buhay, kung isasaalang-alang ang antas ng panganib na kinakaharap ng bansa sa mga tuntunin ng mga natural na kalamidad, lindol at maging ang mga panganib na gawa ng tao.
“Local drills and simulative exercises are preventive measures that familiarize escape routes and reinforce proper actions in the occurrence of a calamity. Frequent practice of these drills and exercises would eventually turn these actions into automatic reflexes that would manifest during an actual calamity,” isinaad ni DepEd.
