By Cyrus A. Natividad
CPU Senior High School Student evacuate to an open space.
The Senior High School conducted its scheduled earthquake drill on Monday July 30, 2019 at 9:30AM. The classes were supervised by their teachers as they followed the procedures of the drill. The earthquake drill started as soon as the alarm bell rang. It lasted for 35 seconds to simulate the duration of an earthquake. Everyone then followed the drop, cover and hold procedure. After which, the students calmly but quickly walked in a buddy-buddy system as their teachers signaled to proceed to the evacuation area in the park and roads not far from the SHS Building. The teachers then made a headcount of the students and reported it to their head.
The proceedings were observed by the evaluators and coordinated by the Incident Management Team led by the team leader Dr. Florence P. Bogacia, Vice President for Finance and Administration. The other team members were there like Pastor James Peter Trasporto, OIC Vice-President for Student Affairs; Rev. Francis Neil G. Jalando-on, Director for Communications; Mr. Donald Lebrilla, Coordinator of EMC; Mr. Jojee Roy Juarez, CPU Internet Services Administrator; Mr Prim Vergara III, Safety Officer; Engr. Ben Howard De Leon, Supervisor, Electrical & Mechanical System; Engr. Rhett Allan B. Baldonado, Supervisor, Facilities Maintenance & Services; and Mrs. Hermely A. Jalando-on, CPU Purchasing Officer. This committee saw to it that the needed orientation for the faculty and staff were done, and the necessary equipment were deployed. They also made observations as the drill came into completion.
CPU Elementary School pupils evacuate to the Big Field.
The evaluators consolidated their data based on the matrix, where they scored points on the performance and completion of each group participants from 1-5 (poor to excellent). This was analyzed during the debriefing held after the drill.
The debriefing was conducted at the SHS Building with all the officers and faculty facilitators. Situational post event analysis and areas of improvement based on the data submitted by the evaluators were presented for feedback and discussion by Mrs. Hermely A. Jalando-on.
In an interview, Senior High School Principal Prof. Edgar Eriman, commended the Committee for the successful implementation of the SHS Earthquake Drill. He said that “the proceedings were almost perfect, however, I admit that there were few observations on the common behavioral realities of the young senior high school students that need to be corrected.” “The faculty will decide on mini-drill schedules to be done as part of the preparation for the unexpected phenomenon,” Eriman added.
CPU Kinder pupils practice the “duck, cover, and hold” technique as they went outside of their classrooms.
Another earthquake drill was previously conducted by the CPU Junior High School on Tuesday, July 16, 2019. Around 1,400 students participated in what Prof. Janet Jalbuena, JHS Principal said was “a practice which is preparatory to a bigger earthquake drill later on. “I am grateful that we have this drill as a preparation for students.”
The Kindergarten and Elementary Schools also conducted the required earthquake drill last July with 23 and 24, respectively, with 957 total number of children combined. In an interview, CPU Kindergarten Principal Hannah Siosan lauded the outcome of the Kindergarten’s earthquake drill because it was scored as perfect. “The children followed what was instructed to them, and observed proper procedure”, she said. “The earthquake drill created awareness and preparedness for the young students – as the incident may come at an unexpected time,” Siosan added. Mr. Rodrigo Sotto, a faculty of the CPU Elementary School said, “the proceeding of our earthquake drill was done smoothly because all pupils, faculty and staff knew what do.”
The University-wide earthquake drill to be participated by everyone in the campus will be scheduled by the committee as soon as possible.