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Barangay evacuation map: a sample, and a blank sheet

A filled-in sample first, so you can see how the marks go on. Then one sheet with a grid to draw your own, drawn by the people who know the ground.

By Hamza Rivera, updated

Short answer: The page gives a filled-in sample barangay evacuation map and a blank gridded sheet to draw your own. Four of its nine marks come from PHIVOLCS's planning criteria and five are this site's additions. The sample barangay is made up, and its routes are not advice for any real place.

Written for the Philippines. Para sa barangay, paaralan o subdivision.

See the sample

PHIVOLCS tells schools to post the evacuation map where people are. Its primer shows a sample school evacuation plan, but the map has to be of your own ground. This is the paper for it.

A sample barangay evacuation map

This barangay is made up. It was drawn for this page to show the marks in use, with a river along one side and a slope in one corner. Filled marks are PHIVOLCS's four; outlined marks are the five this site adds.

Sample evacuation map of a made-up barangay A river runs down the right side and a steep slope fills the top left corner. Houses line the main road and the lanes near the river. Route 1 runs from the riverside houses up a lane to a basketball court marked A, with a dashed buffer zone B around it. An old wall marked X stands beside route 1. Route 2 runs along the bottom lane and up the main road to the same court. Two houses near the river are marked H. The school at the top is the evacuation centre, E. A well beside the court is marked W, and one house is marked S for its main switch and LPG. Steep slope River School Court Main road A B 1 X 2 H H E W S N
A made-up barangay, drawn by staysafedaily.com to show how the nine marks are used. It is not a real place, and its routes are not advice for any real one. Walk your own ground.

What each mark on the sample shows

  • A The basketball court, the open space nearest the houses by the river.
  • B The dashed line round the court: the clear gap kept between the assembly area and the buildings around it.
  • 1 The main route from the riverside houses, up the lane to the court.
  • X An old wall beside route 1 that could fall across it in an earthquake.
  • 2 The second route, along the bottom lane and up the main road, for when the wall has come down.
  • H Two houses where someone cannot walk out alone. A neighbour is named for each on the plan.
  • E The elementary school, away from the river and the slope, used as the evacuation centre.
  • W The deep well beside the court, which stays reachable when the lanes flood.
  • S One house marked for its main switch and LPG tank, as an example. A real map marks every one it can.

Look at what the sample does with the river. Route 1 is the short way and the wall makes it fragile, so route 2 is drawn before anyone needs it, and both end at the same court. The houses that need help are marked where they stand, so the person assigned to each knows which door to go to.

PHIVOLCS's primer for teachers shows a sample school evacuation plan, and the first four marks come from it. The barangay above, its layout and the notes are this site's.

Source: PHIVOLCS, How to Conduct an Earthquake Drill in School: Primer for Teachers (printed October 2011 by DOST-PHIVOLCS). Read 23 September 2026. Linked from the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Preparedness page as a scanned two-page primer. Every phase and stage on this page was read from that scan on 23 September 2026.

What the legend marks

The first four are PHIVOLCS's own planning criteria, from the primer for teachers. The five after them are this site's, added because a barangay map that answers only the first four leaves out the people who need it most. They are marked as ours on the sheet as well as here.

The nine marks, as they appear on the sheet

The first four are PHIVOLCS's own planning criteria from the primer for teachers. The five after them are this site's, added because a barangay map answering only the first four leaves out the people who need it most.

A Assembly area B Buffer zone 1 Main route X Hazard on the route 2 Second route H Households needing help E Evacuation centre W Water and supplies S Main switch and LPG
Assembly area
The open space nearest the building.
Buffer zone
The gap PHIVOLCS says to keep between the assembly area and the building.
Main route
Draw it as a line from each building to the assembly area.
Hazard on the route
Anything the route passes that could fall, flood or electrify it.
Second route
For when the first route is blocked.
Households needing help
Anyone who cannot walk out alone, so somebody is assigned before the night it matters.
Evacuation centre
The building people are sent to once they have left the immediate area.
Water and supplies
The tap, the well or the store that stays reachable.
Main switch and LPG
What somebody has to turn off on the way out.

Source: PHIVOLCS, How to Conduct an Earthquake Drill in School: Primer for Teachers (printed October 2011 by DOST-PHIVOLCS). Read 23 September 2026. Linked from the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Preparedness page as a scanned two-page primer. Every phase and stage on this page was read from that scan on 23 September 2026.

From PHIVOLCS

  • A   Assembly area The open space nearest the building.
  • B   Buffer zone The gap PHIVOLCS says to keep between the assembly area and the building.
  • 1   Main route Draw it as a line from each building to the assembly area.
  • X   Hazard on the route Anything the route passes that could fall, flood or electrify it.

Source: PHIVOLCS, How to Conduct an Earthquake Drill in School: Primer for Teachers (printed October 2011 by DOST-PHIVOLCS). Read 23 September 2026. Linked from the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Preparedness page as a scanned two-page primer. Every phase and stage on this page was read from that scan on 23 September 2026.

Added by this site

  • 2   Second route For when the first route is blocked.
  • H   Households needing help Anyone who cannot walk out alone, so somebody is assigned before the night it matters.
  • E   Evacuation centre The building people are sent to once they have left the immediate area.
  • W   Water and supplies The tap, the well or the store that stays reachable.
  • S   Main switch and LPG What somebody has to turn off on the way out.

A blank sheet to draw your own map, using the four things PHIVOLCS says to work out first.

The sheet

Evacuation map

Draw the ground as it is. Legend below. Planning criteria from the PHIVOLCS primer for teachers.

  • Barangay, school or subdivision
  • Drawn by
  • Date drawn
  • Walked through on
  • Next review

From PHIVOLCS

  • A Assembly area
  • B Buffer zone
  • 1 Main route
  • X Hazard on the route

Added by staysafedaily.com. No agency published these.

  • 2 Second route
  • H Households needing help
  • E Evacuation centre
  • W Water and supplies
  • S Main switch and LPG

staysafedaily.com/emergency-preparedness/evacuation-map/ . Planning criteria from PHIVOLCS, How to Conduct an Earthquake Drill in School: Primer for Teachers, printed October 2011.

Source: PHIVOLCS, How to Conduct an Earthquake Drill in School: Primer for Teachers (printed October 2011 by DOST-PHIVOLCS). Read 23 September 2026. Linked from the PHIVOLCS Earthquake Preparedness page as a scanned two-page primer. Every phase and stage on this page was read from that scan on 23 September 2026.

The map is one of three

A map says where. The plan says who does what and who counts heads. The drill is where you practise both. All three print.

The evacuation plan template The drill poster The PAGASA warning cards