ASHS completes Emergency Drill with efficient evacuation and campus shutdown simulation

The Ateneo de Manila Senior High School (ASHS) participated in the Basic Education–wide Emergency Drill on Wednesday, 7 January 2026, from 1:05 p.m. to approximately 2:30 p.m. The drill followed the structure of previously announced exercises, beginning with a Shelter-in-Place (hide) scenario in response to an imminent threat, followed by an earthquake simulation and a subsequent evacuation to the designated assembly area.

All three phases were conducted smoothly, with most ASHS students responding appropriately to public address (PA) system prompts. However, it was noted that fewer than half of the students wore their hard hats during the drill.

After the simulation, students evacuated the ASHS building and assembled at the designated Emergency Assembly Area (EAA), located at the field between the ASHS building and the FLC. A new component introduced during this drill was the Campus Shutdown, which simulated a post-earthquake scenario requiring students to be fetched, with grade school, junior high school, and senior high school students dismissed simultaneously.

The evacuation process for ASHS students was carried out efficiently. All students reached the EAA by 1:17 pm, just six minutes after the 1:11 pm announcement to proceed there. By 1:23 pm, the headcount had been completed. The campus shutdown was officially announced at 1:37 pm, after which the signal for dismissal was given. ASHS students were fetched by their transport services, while others, with parental permission, were allowed to leave campus on foot or commute home.

This arrangement posed no significant challenges for ASHS students, who are generally familiar with common commuting routes, such as walking to Katipunan to take tricycles or proceeding to nearby establishments for pick-up. Despite the simultaneous dismissal of all Basic Education schools- the grade school, junior high school, and senior high school- on-campus traffic had eased by 2:40 pm.

Overall, the data gathered from this drill will help administrators refine emergency procedures and improve future drills—particularly unannounced ones—to better prepare the entire Ateneo community for real-life emergency situations.