City hall employees’ performance on 4th qtr. NSED marks a 70% rating
The city hall employees’ performance on the recent conduct of the 4th quarter National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) marked a 70% overall rating which shows improvement according to the evaluators.
The drill which was administered by the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) and Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP)-Koronadal did not only comply with the mandate of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) but also practice correctly on how to be safer during shudders especially that the city hall building is towering.
The positive comments of the evaluators are based on the following observations.
►The drill participants waited for the alarm system before evacuating;
► The “buddy-buddy” system was executed while doing an evacuation phase;
► Most participants checked their offices to find out if there was someone left behind;
►Majority of the participants walk faster while doing their evacuation;
►Participants followed their evacuation routes going to their assigned evacuation areas.
Despite the said favorable feedback, the observers still focused more on the weaknesses of the participants so that it can be addressed immediately that includes the following:
►The alarm was not loud enough which signals the start of the drill and the basis to perform duck, cover and hold, hence, it causes failure to other offices and employees to execute it;
►Some offices forgot to open their doors during the alarm phase which serves as an earthquake signal before going to the evacuation site, also failed to assist their clients in leaving their offices, thus, clienteles were left in the lobby;
►Participants evacuated at the lobby area walked slowly, did not cover their heads and were not serious about the drill;
► Some offices took time to find their evacuation area while others have a hard time gathering all the employees of an office;
►There were offices from the 2nd to 4th floor that missed joining the activity despite the encouragement of the implementing agencies because of the tasks that they may not afford to leave behind.
Based on the aforementioned observations, the assessors proposed recommendations such as the installation of a fire alarm system inside the building, fund allocation for an alarm system per floor and checking the alarm functionality prior to the drill to ensure its loudness.
Seriousness while performing the drill is highly advocated while assigning specific evacuation area of each city hall’s wing or office is suggested so that employees will not have difficulty or take too much time of finding their evacuation site, and before the practice, an average number of office-based employees per office must be checked and recorded for easy reconciliation as to the actual number of employees on the day of the drill.
The evaluators were composed of CDRRM Officer Cyrus Jose Urbano, Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Officer (LDRRMO)-I Maricel Fajanel, FO3 Maricar Kristie Nuevo, FO2 Renjay Kennen Castre, SFO1 Rodrigo Peralta, Jr., SFO1 Lucille Liboon, FO1 Jovan Deynis Ramento and FO1 Dan Anthony Padua.