MDH Earthquake Disaster Drill
Questions and Answers
Reynaldo O. Joson, MD
Chair, MDH Disaster Preparedness Committee
When was the last time
you conducted an earthquake drill in
I have been with the hospital for about 20 years now. I am not aware of an earthquake drill during the past 20 years.
Why are you conducting
this earthquake drill?
We are conducting this earthquake drill because we want to
be prepared. Earthquake can occur
anytime. We want to be prepared for
it. The ultimate objective of this drill
is to protect our staff, our patients, and our visitors during times of
earthquake. This drill teaches them what to do during an earthquake when they
are in
We are targeting to teach at least 500 staff, 100 patients, and 100 visitors in this drill today.
Why did you decide to
conduct this earthquake drill today, June 20?
Today is National Earthquake Drill Day for Public Schools.
We want to coincide our drill with the National Earthquake Drill Day for Public Schools as proclaimed by President GMA. This is our way of giving support to the earthquake awareness and preparedness program of the government.
Although the proclamation is just for schools, I don’t think
President GMA or anybody for that matter will mind, if hospitals like
It is not only the schools which should be prepared for earthquake. All kinds of establishments and institutions should also be prepared, including hospitals.
Do you know that it is
not easy to conduct an earthquake drill or to implement a response plan in a
hospital?
Why is it difficult or
not easy to conduct an earthquake drill or implement a response plan in a hospital?
Or what makes a hospital drill different from that of schools or business
establishment?
The earthquake preparedness and response plan of a hospital is very different from that of the schools and business establishment. The earthquake preparedness and response plan for the hospitals is more complicated because of the presence of sick people who are difficult to protect and evacuate.
In hospitals, there are a lot of bed-ridden patients, comatose patients, and patients with respirators whom we cannot apply the usual “duck, drop, cover, and hold” under sturdy tables and desks, the common advice in schools and business establishment. Bed-ridden patients are difficult to transport out of the hospital, when there is a need to evacuate.
In hospitals, there are operations, delivery, and diagnostic and treatment procedures constantly going on. An earthquake suddenly occurring in the middle of an operation, delivery, and diagnostic and treatment procedures poses a great challenge to the doctors and nurses handling such patients in terms of what to do next, continue or abort the operations and procedures, how to protect the unconscious patients under anesthesia, and how to transport them if there is a need to evacuate the hospital.
These are the challenges of an earthquake preparedness program in a hospital setting. Because of the peculiarities of a hospital, we have to come out with an earthquake preparedness program suited to a hospital setting.
These are the reasons why I say it is difficult to conduct and implement a earthquake response plan in the hospital.
In
We are willing and ready to share our earthquake preparedness and response plan to any interested hospital.
How do you reach out
to your patients in terms of training them on earthquake preparedness when they
are in MDH?
We utilize our staff as well as the help of volunteers,
mainly in the persons of the nursing students from the
We have a memo of partnership with
How long did it take for you to prepare for the drill? How did you go about preparing for the drill?
About 2 weeks.
We reviewed our existing earthquake disaster preparedness plan. Refined it. Came out with an information, education, and communication leaflet containing the MDH Earthquake Preparedness Program; What to do when there is an earthquake and you are in MDH; and What to do before, during, and after an earthquake drill in MDH.
We conducted at least three orientation meetings prior to the drill.
What does your
earthquake preparedness program consist of?
There are at least 6 basic components. These are:
1.
Ensuring structural safety as evidenced by
Structural Safety Certificate.
2.
Conducting infrastructure watching and monitoring
activities to identify safe and unsafe spots as well as to identify potential
falling objects and structures during earthquake.
3.
Identifying evacuation route.
4.
Identifying evacuation sites.
5.
Formulating and constantly refining the Hospital
Earthquake Response Plan.
6.
Designing and implementing the Hospital Earthquake
Drill, at least once a year.