MANILA, Philippines —”The earthquake does not follow our schedule nor respects our standard for convenience.”

This was the message of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Danilo Lim hours before the Metro Manila Shake Drill scheduled at 4 pm on July 14, a payday Friday marked by heavy traffic.

“The shake drill is to prepare us for the worst case scenarios and we want to test how long it would take for all units to respond given the traffic and rush hour,” he explained in a message he posted in his social media accounts.

Unlike in previous years, this year’s drill will span 4 days, or until Monday, July 17. Because of the longer duration of the program, the scenarios have expanded beyond the routine “duck, cover, hold.” (READ: What to expect at the #MMShakeDrill 2017)

This year, there will be a simulation of damage to buildings and bridges, fires, looting in communities, traffic and train standstills, and multiple fatalities in the 4 quadrants of Metro Manila.

On the first day, telecommunications and electricity connections will be shut down for the first 45 seconds of the drill.

The MMDA with the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) has invited the Armed Forces of the Philippines and surrounding regional government units to simulate delivery of assistance after a strong quake in the National Capital Region (NCR).

These scenarios mean further delay in traffic all over the metro as roads will be closed for the marathon simulation.

Metro Manila Crisis Monitoring and Management Center chief Mon Santiago echoed Lim’s sentiments, saying that they really set the first day of the drill to match “payday Friday” – when the metro’s roads are busiest.

“The selection is based on a worst case scenario,” Santiago said. “We could be facing something worse.” – Rappler.com