On Wednesday, the Emergency Operations Center (COE) of the Dominican Republic conducted an earthquake evacuation drill in this capital, in which nearly two million people participated.
According to official reports, the COE director, Juan Manuel Méndez, explained that the purpose of this exercise was to prepare the population on how to respond in case of an earthquake.
Just at 10:00 local time, the alarms sounded to announce the supposed occurrence of the earthquake and rescue units were immediately placed in the emergency stairways of the Juan Pablo Duarte government office building to lead employees to a safe evacuation point.
Public and private entities participated simultaneously in the maneuver, according to Méndez, who insisted that the country must be ready for this type of emergency due to the number of geological faults on the island.
The tweet reads, "We joined the National Earthquake Drill promoted by the Emergency Operations Center in the Dominican Republic to urge State institutions to implement measures and train personnel, thus preparing us to act effectively in the event of an earthquake."
Earlier this week, Méndez invited the population to participate in this exercise by registering on the organization's web page.
He also urged the population to download the instructions on what to do before, during and after an earthquake, as well as the guide to create an emergency plan.
For the third time, the COE is carrying out this exercise in the country; the first one took place in October 2021 and the second one a year later.
According to specialists, so far this year in the Caribbean nation, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, there have been low-intensity earthquakes on inland faults, where conditions are not conducive to the occurrence of high-intensity earthquakes.