Koronadal folks stage combined tremor, fire and bomb drill

KORONADAL CITY -- Local folks on Thursday witnessed not just an extensive earthquake drill, but one with conflagration and blast simulations for them to learn how to get through life-threatening emergencies even just by themselves.Regional personnel here of the Department of Trade and Industry and employees of the DTI’s South Cotabato provincial office played a lead role in the emergency exercise.The activity was initiated by local authorities in support of the July 23 nationwide earthquake drill of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council.The educational dramatization of an earthquake, fire and an explosion were initiated inside the Region 12 DTI office and along a thoroughfare nearby under the supervision of the city government, security authorities and emergency rescue groups.The DTI-12’s office is in a four-storey building along Koronadal City’s busiest thoroughfare, the Alunan Drive, which drill organizers closed to traffic for about three hours while emergencies were simulated with the help of participants.Rescuers also demonstrated how to evacuate to a safe area for treatment two supposed tremor injured DTI-12 employees, Butuan Ali and Nur Abdulkadir, to exemplify how to handle disaster victims according to universal life-saving techniques.DTI-12’s regional director, Ibrahim Guimadel, said he is thankful to the inter-agency Koronadal City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) for involving his subordinates in the emergency preparedness exercise.He said the drill gave DTI-12 employees important insights on how to survive through emergencies resulting from disasters.The CDRRMC is comprised of rescue teams from the Bureau Fire Protection, the Philippine National Police, the city government’s traffic management unit and employees of the City Health Office.The council is also backed by Army units in the city and nearby South Cotabato towns.Army and police bomb experts also demonstrated during Thursday’s emergency drill how to deactivate improvised explosive devices after detection by bomb-sniffing dogs.Secondary IEDs planted around the spot where a bomb was set off during the drill were defused by ordnance operatives before spectators gathered within a safe distance.