METRO Manila Development Authority officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos has ordered the 7,000 employees of the agency to undergo a refresher course to address a possible calamity in the National Capital Region where nearly 13 million of the country’s 102 million people live.
Orbos ordered all units of the agency on Friday to retrain all personnel to become first responders in time of emergencies and calamities, saying “as part of the MMDA, all of us should be first responders and know how to deal with emergency situations and incidents.”
In a meeting with the employees, Orbos said he has instructed the heads of MMDA’s Public Safety and Road Emergency Group (REG) to come up with a training module for the refresher course.
REG chief Edward Gonzales said the first part of the module can be basic life support and fire response drill.
The MMDA has an existing memorandum of agreement with private emergency response group, the Binondo-based TxtFire, which the agency could tap for the retraining, Gonzales said.
He said the retraining of the MMDA personnel should be done in groups, with the first batch numbering around 50 to 100 persons.
Gonzales said the retraining should strengthen the knowledge and skills already acquired by the personnel during the initial training.
The second part of the module will discuss and retrain employees on Earthquake, Landslide Search and Rescue Operations (ELSARO) course, first administered to MMDA personnel in 2012.
In 2004, the Japan International Cooperation Agency conducted a study in close coordination with the MMDA and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Based on the study, the cities identified as vulnerable sites in case a Big One—a reference to a major earthquake—strikes were Manila, Quezon City and Pasig.
The MMDA initiated the conduct of a metro-wide shake drill in Metro Manila last year after the Phivolcs came up with a warning of a massive temblor if the Valley Fault System moves.
The system comprises the 10-kilometer East Valley Fault in Rizal, and the 100-kilometer West Valley Fault, which passes through six Metro Manila cities and parts of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna and Rizal.
