Shake drill’s early announcement a ‘mistake’ — MMDA head

The early announcement of the “surprise” shake drill on Thursday was a mistake, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said.

The National Telecommunications Company (NTC) announced the drill through a text message at around 10:50 a.m. It was, however, sent two hours earlier than the original schedule, according to Jojo Garcia, General Manager of the MMDA.

The MMDA earlier said it wants this year’s shake drill to be unannounced since “no one can predict when an earthquake will happen.”

READ: MMDA to hold ‘surprise’ earthquake drills

“The perfect scenario is five minutes before [1:00 p.m.]. ‘Yan ang target namin, yan ang pinagmeetingan namin [with NTC]. Pero napa-aga nga ng two hours (That’s our target based from what we we’ve agreed upon in a meeting. But it was sent two hours early),” Garcia said.

“We just need to accept the fact na nandyan na yan. Tanggapin natin may pagkakamali (We need to accept that there was a mistake),” he added.

Garcia said the NTC advised that they expected traffic in telecommunication so they have prepared the text message in advance.

He noted that he assumed there would be some glitches in the drill.

“That’s why we call it drill to check kung ano yung mga pagkukulang (what is lacking). We don’t expect this to be 100 percent successful,” he said.

The 2018 Metro Manila Shake Drill is the fourth stint of the drills in preparation for the possible 7.2 magnitude earthquake or “The Big One” that could hit the country any time. /ee