By Ace Dizon

Fake gunshots, fires, and rumbling sounds surrounded the Ateneo Senior High School (ASHS) building hallways on October 5, Thursday, as the students and staff practiced disaster-preparedness drills.

Emergency drills spearheaded by ASHS Sandigan Kanlaon along with the Assistant Principal of Administration and the Local Unit Emergency Response Team were performed to simulate three types of drills: shelter-in-place, earthquake, and fire drills.

Kanlaon Head Nicole Padilla said that the Sandigan values preparedness over resilience. 

“We prioritize mitigating the effects of potential disasters through being prepared beforehand. Measures such as the emergency drills help the student body be equipped to be disaster ready as well as to promote safety of the entire ASHS,” Padilla remarked.

Sandigan Kanlaon partnered with class presidents to help with the execution of the drills, all tasked to lead their respective classes throughout the process. 

With red shirts and bandanas, they served as Kanlaon representatives of their class to disseminate pertinent information about the drills.

Prior to the actual drills, emergency protocols and disaster-response procedures were reiterated to the ASHS community by presenting Kanlaon videos during the Moderator’s Inspection Period.

Students who might find the fake stimuli triggering were advised to approach their moderators to assess if they need to be exempted from the drill.

Disaster response 

The shelter-in-place drill simulated an event where an armed person poses an imminent threat to the community’s safety. Students were advised to lock their classrooms with barricades, cover their windows, and proceed to a blind spot in the room. 

Students also practiced an earthquake drill as Ateneo de Manila University is located near the West Valley Fault Line; however, no Ateneo building is atop the fault line. The duck, cover, and hold maneuver was observed during the rumbling sounds.

A fire drill was also executed by putting fake fires around the building. Class presidents were tasked to redirect the class to reach their respective Emergency Evacuation Areas.

Although the drills did not include a campus shutdown, students were informed of the Emergency Pick-up Point that would be followed in the event of a campus shutdown.

Erich Han, a student from 11-Angelis, stated that she feels more disaster-prepared after the emergency drills. 

“I feel like [my disaster-preparedness] has improved in a way na I’m not going to [panic] anymore since I know what to do, and I know where to go whenever emergencies arise,” she stated.

Future drills

This practice was the first of the three drills Kanlaon prepared for the school year. The second drill, a university-wide one, would include the campus shutdown. As for the final drill, this is reported to be a surprise—to be executed in the second semester.