MMDA: Join July 30 quake drill; the more participants, the better for Metro recovery

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has urged all sectors to join the hour-long Metro-wide earthquake drill on July 30 by signing up on its newly launched website metromanilashakedrill.com.

Schools, businesses, private and government organizations as well as religious groups can register on the website to receive guidelines on what to do during the drill which will start at 10:30 a.m.

They will also be given training by the MMDA for the disaster-preparedness simulation expected “to increase the Metro’s chances of better recovery and implementation of contingencies in the event of earthquakes.”

“We will give them guides on what to do based on different earthquake scenarios,” MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino told the Inquirer on Wednesday, adding that more information on the earthquake drill would be available on the website in the coming days.

After a meeting with Metro Manila mayors last week, Tolentino said they agreed to hold the drill for just one hour—from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.—instead of from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. as earlier announced.

It was also decided that power supply and communication lines would not be cut although sirens and bells would be rang simultaneously throughout the metropolis. Maricar Brizuela