THE tremor with a magnitude of 6.2 that many felt in Luzon last August 11 again rekindled the lingering fear of a possible waste-case-scenario should the much talked about Marikina Fault is triggered by natural forces. With its epicenter eyed at the waters of Nasugbu, Batangas, the recent quake is not only a wake-up-call but a glaring reminder that Philippines is within the Ring of Fire which is a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
It is said that about 90 percent of the world's earthquakes and 81 percent of the world's largest earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire that results from volcanic eruptions, tectonic plate collisions and subductions can also cause a massive tsunami. The July 16, 1990 earthquake with its magnitude of 7.8 that triggered the Digdig Fault in North Luzon badly affecting Baguio City and Nueva Ecija and liquefaction in Dagupan City should not be forgotten but constantly remind us that we are vulnerable to such hazards.
Since the great quake of 1990, I have attended management seminars in preparing and coping with eventual hazards such as typhoons, fire, landslides, civil disturbances and even airport emergencies because of the fact that Baguio has an airplane strip. One of the trainings that I have attended and later came up with a video production is on the Incident Command System (ICS) which is an exercise of a standardized, on-scene, all-hazard incident management concept followed by emergency responders around the world.
In MCI, we learned that incidents are either natural or man-made, and require emergency service personnel in order to prevent or minimize loss of life or damage to property or the environment as a whole.
For situations such as fires, hazardous material (HAZMAT) incidents, search and rescue missions, oil leaks, natural disasters, acts of terrorism and planned events such as parades, there has to be a flexible organizational structure that can be mobilized to lessen the impact of an incident. ISC should be flexible to grow and shrink to meet the changing needs of an incident or hazard situation in a given area.
There are certain incident functions to be performed in ICS and first thing to do is identify and assess the problem then develop a plan to be implemented utilizing necessary resources.
During our pre-Y2K ICS drill at the Loakan Airport, we had an aviation disaster scenario with a commercial plane crashing at the runway. The five management functions of ICS was put in place with an Incident Command Post, Operations Section, Planning Section, Logistics Section and Financial Administrative Section. It sounded too bureaucratic at first but the systematized operation eventually resulted to a better organized disaster response.
In that exercise, the whole stretch of the Loacan Airport practically became a disaster field where we had a staging area for the recovered fatalities/patients, makeshift operating tents for the medical service, a command post, designated helipads, staging area for ambulance and rescue equipment and alternative routes for fire trucks that are capable of dousing industrial fires. Loads of aqueous fire-fighting foam (AFFF) were actually pumped at where a plane was supposed to have crashed and rescue operatives with their breathing apparatuses were fielded on the scene.
The Incident Command Post sets incident objectives, strategies and priorities and has overall responsibility.
The Operations Section develops tactical objectives, conducts tactical operations to carry out the plan and directs all tactical resources. The Planning Sction prepares Incident Action Plan to meet incident objectives, collects and evaluates information, and maintains both resource status and incident documentation.
The Logistics Section provides support, resources, and all services to meet operational objectives and the Finance/Administration Section monitors costs, provides accounting, procurement, time recording, and cost analyses.
I just cannot imagine if similar incident with great impact like the 1990 earthquake will again happen in Baguio City. At the city’s central business district, Burnham Park is the only wide space that can be used for such incident command system and we only have the athletic oval and Melvin Jones football field as the wider site for ICS staging. With other spaces at the being eyed to be developed into a multi-level parking, I fear that the whole place will be problematic in cases of mass casualty incident where helipads for cargo and medical helicopters can freely land and fly.
As someone trained in incident command system or ICS, I say that we need every available space at our park. We need staging areas for the dead, the living and injured, spaces for emergency medical treatment, responder's quarters and command center among others. With the constant growth of Baguio's population, the Burnham area will not suffice if another 7.8 magnitude earthquake happens in North Luzon.
To be continued.