September 7, 2023 - The Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards (DA-BAFS) participated during the 3rd quarter National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) scheduled by the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) today at 2PM.
The drill aims to reduce casualties should a major earthquake strike the country and intends to remind the public to observe the steps or protocols when an earthquake occurs.
When the DA-BAFS employees heard the alarm, they quickly did the “Duck, Cover, and Hold”, stayed alert for potential threats, stayed away from glass windows, shelves and heavy objects, after which they calmly moved out of the building to an open area designated for safe evacuation.
This time, it took seven minutes for all employees to move out and clear the BAFS building which is quite longer than normal. After the drill exercise, Administrative Officer V, Ms. Roxanne P. Lizardo shared pointers on her assessment of the situation and these include: hesitation of employees to vacate the premises, lack of protective equipment such as hard hat, no assistance and guidance from designated DRRM officers of BAFS was provided, lack of equipment to distinguish fire drill from earthquake drill, and the obvious lack of employee awareness on the basic steps to do in situations such as these. ###
