Manila, March 12 -- Three major academic institutions in this city will participate in the quarterly National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill on Thursday afternoon to assess their earthquake preparedness plans, aimed at ensuring the safety of more than 40,000 students across all levels.

"We will join the National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED)-our public schools, residents, and offices, but the priority that we will assess is the implementation of the plan of the three big universities," said Charles Carame, City Disaster Risk Reduction Management (CDRRMC) chief, in an interview on Thursday.

He said they will look at how the employees and students at Saint Louis University (SLU), University of the Cordilleras (UC), and the Universit...