Isinumite na ng National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) ang National Disaster Plan sa Malacañang sakaling magkaroon ng napakalakas na lindol sa Metro Manila.

Ito ang isiniwalat kahapon ni Undersecretary Ricardo Jalad, kasalukuyan ding administrator ng Office of Civil Defense (OCD), sa kanyang pagsalang sa Manila Bulletin Hot Seat, kasama sina OCD Assistant Secretary Kristoffer James Purisima, Director Raffy Alejandro, Director Vicente Tomazar, Director Rodrigo Diapana, at NDRRMC spokeswoman Romina Marasigan.

Ayon kay Jalad, sa cabinet meeting nitong Lunes ay inilatag niya kay Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte ang national level plans pagdating sa lindol at iba pang sakuna.

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“Firstly, I briefed the president about the national level plans when it comes to earthquake as well as other disasters and what we have is the National Disaster Response Plan for earthquake which was recently approved by the full council of the NDRRMC,” ani Jalad.

“And we also told him that we are tring to rationalize our contigency plan for an earthquake that will likely effect Metro Manila and what we right now is the Oplan Yakal Plus developed by the NDRRMC and the Metro Manila Development Authority or (MMDA),” ayon pa kay Jalad.

Ipinaliwanag ni Jalad na sinusubukan nilang bawasan ang kanilang contingency plan dahil sa paggalaw ng West Valley Fault, at hindi lamang Metro Manila ang maaapektuhan kundi pati na rin ang iba pang parte ng Region 3 at Region IVA.

“So we must have a contingency plan that will cover those areas and we are also including the participation or response of the regions outside the areas,” pahayag ni Jalad.

“So we are looking at the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council in Luzon as first wave of assisting regions and some regions in Visayas and Mindanao as the second wave,” dagdag niya.

Sinabi rin ni Jalad na sa ngayon ay mayroon na silang nabuong response cluster system at sa bawat cluster (11) ay may designated lead.

Kabilang sa mga cluster ay ang Health, Education, Search and Rescue, Peace at Order and Logistics.

“In the Education cluster they should look at safety of schools.

The Search and Rescue and Retrival Cluster which will be led by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) with the participation of other agencies which has urban search and rescue capability, and other clusters rapid emergency telecom teams led by OCD,” paliwanag ni Jalad.

Aniya, kasalukuyang kinukumpuni ang mga tulay at skyway bilang paghahanda sa “Big One”.

Pitong tulay sa NCR ang kasalukuyang inaayos at 64 na ang natapos kumpunihin. (Francis T. Wakefield)