SM City Bacolod actively participated in the first quarter National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) for the year 2023, with over 300 employees and tenants joining the exercise, at 2PM yesterday, March 9.
This marked the first full-scale preparedness exercise held by the mall after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.
The drill was conducted while the mall was in full operation, allowing the SM emergency response group to simulate real-time scenarios in the event of an earthquake. Participants familiarized themselves with basic safety measures such as the duck-cover-and-hold, identified exit points and the mall’s command center. Even customers were encouraged to join in the drill.
Various scenarios were simulated during the exercise, including security and crowd control, rescue, evacuation, clearing, first aid, and communication, in coordination with government disaster risk reduction authorities. Observing the activity were Bureau of Fire Protection’s (BFP) FO2 Harold Oquindo and FO2 Japhet Mar Trinidad.
Oquino praised SM’s NSED efforts, noting that the threat of earthquakes and other disasters is real. He commended the company’s participation in the drill and looks forward to continued improvements in emergency response.
Julia Javellana, SM assistant mall manager and the drill’s incident commander, said the exercise was a good opportunity for employees, security and agency personnel, affiliates, and tenants to put into practice consistent safety reminders on what to do during an earthquake. All 82 SM Supermalls and other properties of the SM Group, including businesses and subsidiaries, participated in the NSED.
