Just a day after a powerful earthquake struck northern Cebu, Valencia City conducted a surprise simultaneous earthquake drill across its barangays on Thursday.
City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office chief June Ray Valero said the drill was part of the city’s initiative to emphasize the importance of building disaster-resilient communities and ensuring that residents are always prepared for emergencies such as earthquakes.
Participants included city employees, students, teachers, and barangay officials, even as Valencia-the center of Bukidnon’s economic hub-continues to recover from the September 17 flash floods that devastated several areas of the city. The floods killed five residents, while three others remain missing as of October 2. Search and retrieval operations are still ongoing.
The country, with over 7,000 islands and many coastal cities, is considered one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.
It experiences around 20 typhoons annually, some of which intensify into destructive storms.
The country is also highly vulnerable to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location along the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire.’/coa