In a disaster, rescue will usually arrive only after 72 hours.
Know what to do in the first 72 hours of a hazard and how you can plan for it with your family:
Find out the distance of your home and workplace from the West Valley Fault.
The first step is situational awareness. Sites such as the Phivolcs Faultfinder and Project Tremors can help you determine how near you are to the West Valley Fault.
The West Valley Fault runs for 100 kilometers from Sierra Madre to Cavite. The last major earthquake was in 1658. Based on history, the fault has moved in an interval of 400 years, so the next one can come within our lifetime or that of our children’s.
Note how far it is from your home, your children’s schools and your workplaces, as this will help you plan for the next steps.
List the people included in your plan.
In the event of a natural hazard such as a typhoon or earthquake, our instinct would be to run to our families. But what if your line of work involves being on duty in emergencies, or what if it isn’t safe to leave the place where you are?
This is why all household members, including domestic helpers, should be involved in disaster preparedness planning to avoid panic and decisions that could endanger one’s self.
List your household members’ names, contact details and the places that your family members are most likely to be in each day during the week.
If you plan to leave Metro Manila during a disaster, determine your out-of-town host or contacts, and make sure to inform them that they are part of your preparedness plan (they need to get ready for you, too).
Decide on a meet-up point and where you expect to go after the disaster.
Use the information from the first step to help decide which is the safer option between staying or leaving where you may be at the time of an earthquake.
From here, you can determine if you will go to a meet-up point. If you will, plan on a waiting time, noting how long it will take to move from one place to another by foot.
List resources for your emergency kits at home and at work.
An important reason for also planning as a family is because you will need to budget for emergency go-bags per household member.
The list of basic supplies includes the following:
- Food (non-perishable, cooked in easy open can)
- Water
- Rubber shoes
- First aid kit (including wound dressing, pressure bandage)
- Battery-operated/crank radio
- Duct tape (for emergency purposes such as repairing shoes)
- Extra clothes
- Thermal blanket
Other important materials are a mask, a tourniquet, a water purifier and a solar power bank. The mask would help prevent suffocation from dust, while he cited that a properly applied tourniquet could help increase survival rates to anyone who is injured and bleeding. If in case you run out of water, a water purifier will allow you to safely drink from any water source.
Your go-bag from work and home will also have different supplies depending on your needs. For the most basic needs, you can just pack a go-bag with water, food, candy, tape and a thermal blanket.
Documentation is also extremely important during a disaster. While you should have a hard copy of your identification documents such as birth certificates and marriage certificates, scan these and upload them to a USB. Include easily identifiable photos of yourself too as it will help rescuers tag any missing persons or those they have been able to provide aid to.
Step 5: Decide on the best place to go after the earthquake. After an earthquake, you should collectively decide if you will stay home, go to an evacuation center, or relocate outside Metro Manila.
Some of the considerations would be how long you will stay, how much food and water you will need, and the security of the area.
Other considerations could include a household member needing constant medical care, and for this you will need to identify a place where a hospital is nearby. Note however that depending on the location, hospitals within Metro Manila may also be destroyed by the earthquake.
Step 6: Practice earthquake drills at home and see where there are gaps.
Practice drills such as the duck-cover-hold, first aid training, and surviving on limited resources. From here, you may flag gaps in your plan and draw up a revised one.
Step 7: Regularly stock up on resources and check the expiry dates of supplies.
After assembling your emergency kit, you will need to note the expiry date and restock as needed. According to NDRRMC, it is adviced to stock up on at least two weeks worth of supplies at home and to regularly check their expiry date as well.
Step 8: Keep updated on natural hazards through the following apps and websites. Stay disaster-ready by having a regular source of information on disasters:
Websites
- Phivolcs – dost.phivolcs.gov.ph
- MMDA – mmda.gov.ph
- NDRRMC – ndrrmc.gov.ph
Mobile apps
- Quake Alert
The ultimate goal of all this preparedness planning is to get life back to normal. Empowering ourselves with the knowledge and preparations could save us and millions of others from the Big One.
