An earthquake drill was held on Thursday at the Philippine Arena as part of the 4th Quarter Nationwide Simultaneous Earthquake Drill and in preparation for the opening of the South East Asian Games (SEAG).

The SEAG opening ceremony will be staged at the Philippine Arena on Nov. 30 with delegations coming from 11 participating countries.

Some 11,000 athletes will compete in 55 sport disciplines to be held in 44 different venues in Metro Manila, Clark and Subic.

Lt. Col. Rizalino Andaya, Bocaue police chief, said the earthquake drill was participated in by the Bulacan Philippine National Police (PNP) in coordination with disaster risk reduction and management responders and personnel of the Bureau of Fire Protection with ambulances and fire trucks prepositioned in four evacuation areas at the arena’s parking area A, B, D and VIP.

During the scenario, police personnel acted as security details for the evacuation areas and its command post.

Andaya said no untoward incident was reported during the drill.

Mina Ancheta of the Provincial Public Affairs Office of Bulacan said the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council earlier sent a memorandum to its regional, provincial and municipal counterparts about the simultaneous earthquake drill.

Meanwhile, Bro. Martin Francisco of the Sagip Sierra Madre Environmental Society Inc., reiterated his call for the local government units of Bulacan to release to the public the location of the evacuation sites in case a dam-break scenario occurs during or after an earthquake.

He said based on the pronouncement of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), at least 10 villages in Bulacan are near the West Valley Fault Line.

Francisco identified these barangays as San Isidro, Ciudad Real and San Roque in the City of San Jose del Monte; San Lorenzo in Norzagaray town; and Camachin, Kabayunan, Sapang Bulak, Bayabas, Camachile and Pulong Sampalok in Doña Remedios Trinidad town.

He said these areas are geographically near Angat Dam. (PNA)