FEATURE… 

PDRRMO MCI bomb SIMEX with 

PDRRMO, tests inter-operability 

Amidst the shrill screams and cries from the victims supposedly hit by shrapnel, fire engine number 1 from the Tagbilaran City Fire Station wailed to a halt at the periphery of ground zero, sending a thin cloud of dust wafting across the field. 

Gunning its engines to a high rev a few meters away from the ticker tape and the uniformed police officers forming a security cordon, fire engine 1 and its fire fighters patiently await the go signal from the bomb experts scanning the place where two bomb blasts left victims strewn across the sports complex. 

Earlier, explosives and ordnance reconnaissance unit with bomb sniffing dogs sized up the area, seeking possible hidden explosives or improvised explosive devices that have the potential to hurt emergency responders. 

As fire officers complete in fire suits and unrolling the fire hoses spilled from the fire truck, a unit of the police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) in their black vests and riot Kevlar helmets swept across the ground, assault rifles on the ready add up to the perimeter security. 

Then, as the bomb experts declare the ground zero safe, the fire suppressing team raced to the fire scene, hoses on the tail and the fire caused by explosives sizzled, amidst wails and screams from victims. 

There is no need for alarm however. This was just a simulation exercise (SIMEX). 

The bomb explosions and the ensuing fire as well as the emergency response that ground to halt some portions of the major highways of Tagbilaran City is just one of the many SIMEX mass casualty incident (MCI) that the Provincial Disaster and Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) organized to make Boholanos disaster response ready. 

Already testing the Incident Command and Management System for other MCI, the PDRRMO now tests an MCI with a bomb explosion, which mobilizes a horde of emergency responders from the scene of the crime operatives, bomb experts, K9 units, fire fighters, emergency medical services from nine city hospitals, Philippine Red Cross volunteers, and a fleet of mobility assets including an air support as air ambulance for victim extraction. 

With the implementation of Republic Act 10121, part of the provincial response to such mandate is the establishment of protocols for inter-operability among responders in an MCI, also developing camaraderie and unity among responders, said PDRRMO Anthony Damalerio. 

Now, keenly observing the operations, Damalerio, along with Office of the Civil Defense Region 7 Assistant Regional Director Virneil Balaba, Governor Arthur Yap and other officials, regularly check their watches, timing on the response time of responders. 

In emergency responses like this, seconds count, and a delay caused by traffic, non-primed emergency responders and equipment not tested for emergencies, sometimes fail at the time of need. 

“Today, we are simulating a bombing during a renowned festival in Bohol: the Sandugo Festival,” PDRRM responder Tiara Lourdes Torero’s voice sounded over the public address system, as criminology students from University of Bohol, Bohol Island State University and Dr Cecilio Putong National High School, mill on the sports ground moments before the first explosion. 

Just as the fire suppression team signals fire out, crime scene operatives expand their investigation to the victims. 

Then, a medical team from Gov Celestino Gallares Hospital entered the crime scene cordon, went to each victim, examined each for medical attention, and then put on tags. 

“Conducting triage facilitates the determination of patients in priority treatment based on the severity of their conditions, and puts up a system when the resources for treatment are insufficient, as well as putting in priority for emergency transport and transport destination of the victims,” explained PDRRM officer Darwin Bernasor, who forms part of the IEC team for the SIMEX and also keeps a handset, squelching the conduct of the on-going operations, with a local amateur radio group volunteering to direct radio traffic. 

As the triage team continues its tagging operations, search and rescue teams arrive in a rescue truck equipped with booms and cranes, floodlights and pat slides as transport aid for the wounded. 

As rescue team collect the victims to a secondary staging area, another triage operation happened where medics apply initial treatment and puts up new tags, now in three colors. 

“Green tags are for critical non wounds, yellow for serious but not life-threatening and treatment can be delayed and red tags are for critical wounds needing immediate treatment,” Torero explained to the onlookers. 

In the nearby parking lot, a phalanx of ambulance vehocles arrive in single file, managed by a dispatch officer, while medical rescuers bringing in guerneys and patslides start transporting tagged patients from the secong staging point to the ambulance, starting from those with the red tags. 

Among the victims incidentally, was an identified VIP. 

Immediately, the ICM commander calls for air ambulance to air lift the VIP to a medical facility. 

A Philippine Air Force chopper which acts as the SIMEX air ambulance, lands inside the cordoned ground zero, picks the VIP and flies off to a medical facility. 

On the ground, the screaming ambulances pile out of the ground zero, bringing to halt traffic and forcing traffic reroutes, as every ambulance operator picks a route closest to the nearest medical care facility. 

“Over-all, the response was generally very good, but there would be more of the MCI SIMEX soon,” the PDRRMO said. 

The fire fighters stood down before the bomb squad completed the scan, the medics only entered the crime scene only after the fire was suppressed, lessening the potential victims, the ambulance services only started transporting after the triage tagging, and the dispatch system made sure who went to what medical facility, minimizing confusion from families seeking out their relatives. 

“We do not want people to just barge into the crime scene when you still have SOCO collecting fragments of evidence. And we do not want to have many feet trampling the crime scene, so we need to vacate the location and minimize the destruction of key information leading to the suspects in the MCI,” a team assessing the incident response shared. 

The conduct of SIMEX is a way of measuring the readiness among equipment, manpower and resources and their capacity to mobilize to respond to different simulated incidents. 

It also measures the interoperability of the various responders, imposing a discipline and camaraderie that cuts delays in response times which means critical minutes of life and death. 

Simex on bomb blasts, motor vehicle accidents, fire and other natural calamities also prove the people’s reaction and adaptability to the situation to survive. 

In Bohol, where experiences of terrorist activities have been documented, and natural calamities have hit in the past, a protocol well understood by everyone would be crucial in avoiding mass casualties, and guiding people to respond appropriately, without the government necessarily guiding communities whose responses to the situation would be guided by reflex reaction as practices by the simulation exercises. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

AIR LIFT. Rescuers await for the air ambulance crew to take over the custody of the VIP for transfer to a secure medical facility during the SIMEX by the PDRRMC in preparation for a possible bomb attack. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)