THE Public School System on Tuesday staged a tsunami evacuation drill to test its operational readiness.
Also participating in the drill were the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services and CNMI Homeland Security which deployed their emergency-response teams as well as their transportation and communication equipment.
The drill involved a thousand students from three coastal schools on Saipan — Francisco M Sablan Middle School, Hopwood Middle School and Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School.
The “8.0 earthquake” lasted between 20 and 30 seconds.
PSS officials led by Commissioner of Education Dr. Alfred B. Ada and Associate Commissioner of Administrative Services and Office of Pupil Transportation Director Shawn San Nicholas monitored the drill.
“What we are doing today, though a hypothetical scenario, is to prepare all of us,” Ada said during a briefing at Hopwood. “We have to regularly evaluate our ability to respond to disasters like tsunami.”
School principals and vice principals of Garapan Elementary School, San Vicente Elementary School, Oleai Elementary School, William S. Reyes Elementary School, and Marianas High School served as evaluators of the drill.
Also onsite were PSS central office personnel and school nurses.
Associate Commissioner Magofna said during the drill, students were safely evacuated to the designated evacuation sites.
For FMS, it was the NMIFA soccer field parking lot; for Hopwood, the Parks & Recreation compound in As Perdido; and for GTC, the San Roque Church.
“I am very happy to see all of us together,” Commissioner Ada said to the participating personnel of DPS, DEFMS and Homeland Security.
Saying that the tsunami drill was a “successful celebration of collaboration,” Ada added: “Let us continue working together to further strengthen and evaluate ways to educate our school community in responding to disasters.”
PSS will hold a similar drill in September for Head Start and kindergarten students.
Hopwood Middle School students hide under their desks during a mock magnitude-8 earthquake before evacuating to the Parks & Recreation compound in As Perdido as part of Tuesday’s tsunami drill.
Department of Public Safety, fire department, CNMI Homeland Security and school personnel safely escort Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School students to their evacuation site during a tsunami drill on Tuesday.
Education Commissioner Alfred Ada briefs the evaluators and other school personnel prior to the start of the drill.
Associate Commissioner Eric Magofna thanked participating agencies for ensuring the success of the drill.
