By Cris Diaz
MISAMIS ORIENTAL, July 22 (PNA) – Some public schools in Misamis Oriental are along the “volcanic fault lines” considered as a danger zone, a senior provincial official said Wednesday.
Fernando Q. Dy, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Disaster, Risk, Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), said that the PDRRMC discovered the anomaly during an emergency drill in the town’s public schools here last Tuesday.
“We were shocked when we found out that these public schools are located in areas identified as volcanic fault lines,” Dy said.
He said that the PDRRMC, in coordination with the Department of Education (DepEd), conducted “emergency drills” in all public schools in Misamis Oriental since Monday.
Dy said that the PDRRMC-DepEd intends to cover all the public schools in the 23 towns and two component cities of Misamis Oriental at the end of the year.
The emergency drills are mostly about how to respond to quakes and on where to find the safer places, Dy said.
It was during the drill that we noticed the “volcanic fault line” signs on the ground because the students are running toward the fault lines, Dy said.
He said that the Philvocs placed the markings on the ground to inform residents and anyone that the fault line could snap anytime and could become the center of a very strong earthquake.
After the discovery, the PDRRMC revised the escape plans to make sure that the students would not run toward the fault lines, Dy said.
He said that the revision of the emergency escape routes is the only practical means because it would be very expensive for the government to abandon existing public school buildings and build a new one elsewhere. (PNA)