The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) on Sunday disclosed that the national government is intensifying its earthquake preparedness efforts by training more emergency responders in anticipation of a potential magnitude 7.2 tremor along the West Valley Fault.

OCD chief Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno stressed the urgent need to prepare for the "Big One," which experts warn could severely impact Metro Manila.

"We must prepare now," Nepomuceno said. "The most effective way to save lives is to start preparing today."

He outlined three key areas of focus — infrastructure resilience, public education and bolstering response capacity — and stressed that compliance with the National Building Code is "non-negotiable," stating that buildings must be designed to withstand a magnitude 8.5 earthquake.

The OCD is collaborating with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and private sector engineers to upgrade construction standards, with a particular focus on steel reinforcement bars and eliminating substandard imports that pose safety risks.

Nepomuceno also reiterated the importance of avoiding construction in high-risk areas such as fault lines and landslide-prone zones.

He urged the public to learn the basic but critical "duck, cover and hold" survival technique, which he said could save lives in the initial moments of an earthquake.

Acknowledging the country's limited resources compared to more prepared nations like Japan, Nepomuceno said the Philippines has far fewer trained earthquake responders.

"Unlike Japan, which has over 12,000 highly trained earthquake responders, the Philippines has far fewer. But we are not sitting idle," Nepomuceno said.

To address this gap, the OCD is partnering with the Armed Forces, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Coast Guard, Red Cross and other agencies to increase the number of trained personnel.

Collaboration also includes the National Service Reserve Corps, student volunteers from the National Service Training Program and private groups such as the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and ARISE Philippines.