THE RED Cross Youth Council (RCYC) -College of Science Unit organized the first “earthquake evacuation drill” last July 15 to prepare the college for emergencies.
The drill, conducted at 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., lasted for seven minutes and 30 seconds and six minutes and 55 seconds, respectively.
“The faster the drill, the better since it would be safer for a person to evacuate the building during an earthquake,” said Gerson Contreras, RCYC-Science president.
Dr. Lito Maranan, Science professor and RCYC-UST adviser, said the earthquake drill is a yearly activity of the college but it was the first time for the college to “evacuate” to Plaza Mayor. In previous years, they used all the exits of the Main Building. This time, they used the main exits near the Faculty of Civil Law dean’s office and the one in front of the building.
RCYC, together with the Crisis Management Team of the University, is working on a plan for another evacuation drill covering the whole campus. They have started conducting seminars in different colleges on emergency preparedness. Charmaine M. Parado
