AFP joins in MMDA's 'Shake Drill'

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 30): AFP joins in MMDA's 'Shake Drill'
 

In line with its efforts to boost its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) calamities, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP participated in the Metro-wide earthquake drill, dubbed the “Shake Drill”, spearheaded by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) which took place 10: 30 a.m. Thursday.

Col. Noel Detoyato, AFP public affairs office chief, said that this is in coordination with National Capital Region Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils and the MMDA.

This is to ensure that its responders and facilities will be very effective in handling situations related to natural calamities, particularly a magnitude 7 earthquake which might originate from the West Valley Fault here.

Detoyato said that this is also in accordance with AFP’s existing HADR Contingency Plan “Pagyanig”.

The Joint Task Force-National Capital Region (JTF-NCR) will be taking the lead in all of AFP HADR efforts around Metro Manila in support of Philippine National Police (PNP) and other line agencies.

To further ready its troops, the JTF-NCR had its Earthquake and Landslide Search and Rescue Orientation Course (ELSAROC) in June to ensure that we will be able to respond to communities here that might be affected.

The AFP also had its three-day humanitarian assistance and disaster response exercise (HADRX) last July 22 to 24 which brought together 100 participants composed of personnel from the training audiences (AFP Battle Staff, HADR Crisis Action Team, Unified Commands, Major Services, and AFP-Wide Service Support Units), Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), panelists, facilitators and support staff.

 http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=787793