Dumaguete school kids perform “Duck, Cover, Hold” at EQ drill

By: Leandria P. Pagunsan

DUMAGUETE CITY, March 20 (PIA) — Some 1,107 grades 1 to 6 schoolchildren of Dumaguete City Elementary School performed the “Duck, Cover, Hold” during the nationwide simultaneous earthquake drill here recently.

Randy Saldua, action officer of the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC), facilitated and started the drill at exactly 9:00 o’clock in the morning.

A one-minute ringing of the bell sounded to prepare the school children and the teachers to evacuate.

Fast and calm, the teachers and students moved out from their classrooms going to the lobby on the ground floor of the school building.

Drill evaluators from the Philippine National Police, Department of Interior and Local Government, Philippine Information Agency, and school supervisor Jose Miraflor convened with the teachers after the drill to evaluate the over-all performance of the children.

Miraflor reminded the teachers to always conduct a head count of all the children and let them understand that the “duck, cover, hold” is important for their safety.

He encouraged the teachers to do the drill once a month for familiarization.

“It is the responsibility of the teachers to educate the children not only on the academic aspect but also on disaster preparedness,” he said.

He should encouraged the children not to panic and be aware that there is no substitute for disaster preparedness.

Meanwhile, Saldua in his assessment, noted that when the bell sounded to indicate the alarm phase, some teachers appeared confused, while some of the schoolchildren were noisy and pushing each other around while evacuating their classrooms.

“Disaster preparedness cannot be perfected, there is always room for improvement, anyway,” Saldua said.

Miraflor also reminded the school principal to assign two teachers who will be responsible in sounding the bell.

They should also see to it that the bell is not defective, he added. (rmn/LPagunsan/PIA-7/Negros Oriental)