FORT DEL PILAR, Baguio City - The National Disaster Coordinating Council on Monday said it will hold national earthquake drills in response to a series of deadly earthquakes worldwide, including last Saturday’s intensity 8.8 quake in Chile that left hundreds dead.

Defense Secretary and concurrent NDCC chairman Norberto Gonzales said the NDCC has been holding earthquake drills at the local level as part of the agency’s efforts to mitigate effects of possible earthquakes.

“On the matter of earthquakes, we have made some schedules (for drills). We’ve started our table of preparations, and then we will have a national earthquake drill,” said Gonzales, without elaborating when the national earthquake drill will be held.

“It appears that regions in the world are being hit one by one so we will have an earthquake drill at the national level,” he added.

The earthquake at Chile occurred a month after a quake in Haiti, killing thousands, including three Filipino soldier-peacekeepers. Also killed was a Filipino civilian staff of the United Nations and two Filipino overseas workers employed at a supermarket.

Gonzales said the new thrust of the NDCC is that if one locality is hit by a disaster, the whole country should be ready to respond.

“We should be trained on that, no matter how small the disaster is. It's better that the whole country learns how to extend assistance so that supposed a major disaster hits, we are prepared, our country is prepared,” he said.