DAVAO ORIENTAL—Employees of the Davao Oriental Provincial Medical Center (DOPMC) have been noted “ready” to respond to disasters as they seamlessly executed the necessary emergency measures during a joint fire and earthquake drill on October 12.
Dr. Rommil Oraiz, Commander of the established Incident Command Post that manages the overall simulation activity, said that the hospital staff are well-equipped with the skill on disaster response as it has been conducted regularly.
“We have been doing this for so many years already since it is a requirement for the hospital and also in preparation for disasters. So far the employees here already have the knowledge. What’s only needed is constant drill such as this so that they will never forget what they have learned,” Oraiz said.
Some of the techniques which, Oraiz said, was observed during the drill are “duck, cover, and hold” technique during the alarm phase, the “buddy-buddy” system during the evacuation phase, and the “crouch and tuck-head” technique when the second alarm sounded.
Oraiz added that the skills that the staff have been learning from its yearly simulation exercises have been proven useful to actual disaster events such as the 6.4 magnitude quake last month and a fire incident which was quickly neutralized. He said the whole team successfully managed and controlled the said disasters and immediately reestablished normal hospital operations.
Dr. Reden Bersaldo, DOPMC Chief, shared his positive evaluation of the performance of the employees.
“This is my first time as chief of hospital to conduct this. This will prepare our employees in terms of evacuating our patients and watchers in the hospital in case a disaster or an earthquake or fire occurs,” he said.
Participants of the said event are personnel from the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Philippine Coastguard (PCG), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippine Army, and Provincial Employees Emergency Mobilization and Rescue Team (PEEMART). Photos by Rhea Shane Laureano
