ILOILO City – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) are tapping modern technology to further empower the public with information on possible disasters.
They are currently developing “Hazard Hunter”, a mobile application version of their web platform called GeoRisk PH, said Undersecretary Renato Solidum Jr. of DOST’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) section and officer-in-charge of Phivolcs.
Helping DOST and Phivolcs are the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau (DENR-EMB) and Office of Civil Defense (OCD).
“Makikita lahat ng panganib at risks ng bawat pasilidad,” said Solidum here on Feb. 21 during the conduct of the nationwide simultaneous earthquake drill. “Sa isang pindot ng inyong cellphone, kung saang bahay o building na gusto niyong tingnan, lahat ng panganib ay ililista para ang hazards ay mapaghandaaan.”
DOST and Phivolcs previously developed the FaultFinder mobile app which showed the distance between the user’s current location, address or selected location and the nearest active fault.
“The Hazard Hunter app can be used by anyone,” said Solidum.
Modern technology must complement regular earthquake drills to further empower people to protect themselves from hazards, he stressed.
The Feb. 21 earthquake drill here simulated the Jan. 25, 1948 magnitude 8.2 tremor that jolted Panay Island and its sleeping people. It destroyed 55 Spanish-era stone churches and triggered a tsunami.
There were five drill areas – Barangay Sto. Niño Sur, Arevalo district where a maritime school is based; SM City Iloilo; Iloilo Business Park; Iloilo Mission Hospital; and Iloilo City Hall.
The simultaneous drills highlighted the relationships among different stakeholders in case of emergencies.
An earthquake impact study on Iloilo City conducted by Phivolcs and Geoscience Australia published in 2012 determined that a repeat of the 1948 quake would result in over 8,500 buildings being in a complete damage state (i.e., those that are collapsed or cannot be repaired), and approximately 1,500 fatalities.
The study also projected that a smaller magnitude 6.3 earthquake occurring on a blind thrust about 15 kilometers southwest from Iloilo City would result in approximately 2,700 buildings being in a complete damage state, and approximately 450 fatalities.
The 1948 quake “Lady Caycay” is still considered the second biggest earthquake in the 500-year Philippine earthquake history.
The epicenter was reported to be between Antique’s towns of Tobias Fornier (called Dao at that time) and Anini-y./PN
