New City Hall Earthquake Drill

March 16, 2012; Employees of the Iloilo City Government stationed at the New City Hall, held an earthquake drill to test the preparedness of the employees in case another large magnitude earthquake hit Iloilo City. Casualty evacuation was also tested after the evacuation drill to measure the length of time that it will take search and rescue teams to find and rescue possible trapped victims.


The scenario: An ordinary office day in the New City Hall everything was routine when suddenly, an earthquake shook the city with magnitude of 8.0. In the New City Hall employees were evacuated successfully in a span of 6 minutes, however a few employees fell victim to toppling cabinets and fixtures. After all occupants were evacuated, the ICER team was dispatched to conduct search and rescue. The victims were found and loaded to the spine board while others were carried down to the evacuation area at Plaza Libertad just across the new City Hall. It took the team around 15 minutes to evacuate patients using the available staircases.


The drill was evaluated and critiqued for improvements and recommendation on how to evacuate the building quickly.

(ICER-061)