OFFICE of Civil Defense (OCD) administrator Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno on Sunday met with disaster response officials to discuss contingency plans amid the recent series of earthquakes that have struck Ilocos Sur, raising concerns about a potential tsunami event.
The meeting brought together various government agencies to focus on preparing for the worst-case scenario.
Recognizing the heightened tsunami threat, Nepomuceno stressed the urgent need to intensify the dissemination of early warning systems.
The OCD chief said all concerned must know how to communicate tsunami risks in layman’s terms to ensure public comprehension.
“We must create a system where, when there is a final warning, the message is clear: run to higher ground, not to evacuation centers. This is crucial for effective response,” he stated.
Nepomuceno noted the need to rethink the tsunami warning approach as the public should be heading towards higher ground and not to evacuation centers.
“When a tsunami warning is issued, the instinctive action should be to seek higher ground. Many existing evacuation centers may not be safe in this context, and we cannot afford any confusion. Our community must understand this critical directive,” he added.
The first critical assumption is understanding the estimated arrival time of the first tsunami wave, which varies depending on the distance from the tsunami source.
This information is vital for calculating the area at risk and determining how quickly evacuation must occur.
It is essential to understand local risks, including historical data and potential impacts, as well as specific tsunami hazards in the community and the vulnerability of the population and infrastructure to tsunamis.
Actions to be taken by the councils include referring to tsunami hazard maps, clarifying with the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) the arrival times of tsunamis in various locations, understanding the nature of tsunami waves and their potential to cause damage, preparing for possible power failures, inventorying generators and backup communication systems for local Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), issuing directives from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to local government units (LGUs) for the identification and assessment of evacuation centers, conducting information dissemination campaigns, tsunami drills, and emergency communication drills, designating advance observation posts, and preparing “Go Bags” with flashlights and dry cell batteries.
Evacuation plans must identify suitable roads and paths for escape, which involves assessing the condition and safety of these routes before a tsunami or earthquake occurs.
