Schools on top of the West Valley Fault make preparations for a major quake

Schools sitting right on top of either the East Valley or West Valley Faults have made preparations just in case a major earthquake should hit, GMA 7 news program “24 Oras” reported on Tuesday.



Both the Ateneo de Manila Grade and High Schools have started their own preparedness programs, with each student now required to have a "go bag," which contains bottles of water, energy bars, a first-aid kit, a flashlight, and an identification card.

"It creates a mindset of disaster preparedness,” explained Ateneo de Manila Grade School headmaster Jose Antonio Salvador, “These things are realities that need to be prepared for.”

Students, meanwhile, approved of the new requirement. "Hindi natin alam kung gaano kagrabe ang lindol na mangyari sa atin kaya iyong pinaghahadaan namin iyong worst case scenario," student Terence Villalon said.

Ateneo had earlier delayed the opening of classes at certain levels so certain building could be strengthened in case of a strong quake.

In Muntinlupa City, students at the APEC School were offered the option of transfering to another campus if they do not feel safe in their present campus. Other schools had also decided not to use buildings that were in the fault or danger area.

According to Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, six public schools and eight private schools were right on top of a fault. The public schools were:

• Macabud National High School (Rodriguez, Rizal),
• Tagumpay High School (Rodriguez, Rizal),
• Tagumpay Elementary School (Rodriguez, Rizal),
• Mascap Elementary School (Rodriguez, Rizal),
• Mascap High School (Rodriguez, Rizal), and
• Karahumi Elemtary School (Norzagaray, Bulacan).

The private schools were:

• Ateneo Grade School (Quezon City),
• Filinvest II Ideal Montessori Center (Quezon City),
• Army's Angel's Integrated School (Taguig City),
• Sto. Niño Catholic School (Taguig City),
• Our Lady of the Abandoned Catholic School (Muntinlupa City),
• APEC School (Muntinlupa City),
• St. Therese of the Child Jesus (San Pedro, Laguna), and
• Muntinlupa Institute of Technology (Muntinlupa City).

These schools were identified based on PHIVOLCS' Valley Fault System Atlas. "Iyong map kasi is helpful to identify possible schools that should be checked," Education Department Secretary Armin Luistro had said.

"Part of our work is to look at what has happened in the past and see how frequent these large events would occur along the fault and how it would translate into damages around the impacted area specifically Metro Manila," PHIVOLCS' Seismological Observation and Earthquake Prediction Division OIC Ishmael Narag added. — Trisha Macas/DVM, GMA News