Quake monitoring in Iloilo gets boost
Glenda Tayona
ILOILO City – With the opening of its 115th seismic station in Barangay Punong Pequeño in Dueñas, Iloilo yesterday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) boosted its earthquake monitoring capability.
“This i s a remarkable milestone,” said Phivolcs officerin-charge Renato Solidum Jr.
The new seismic station fulfilled Phivolcs’ target to establish 115 such stations throughout the Philippines before President Rodrigo Duterte ends his term this year.
Phivolcs i s a s ervice institute of the Department of Science and Technology that is principally mandated to mitigate disasters that may arise from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami and other related geotectonic phenomena.
The Dueñas seismic station is connected to the Philippine Seismic Network. It will help make faster and more accurate the issuance of earthquake information to decision-makers, emergency responders, and the general public, said Solidum.
The determination of earthquake parameters and the detectability of seismic events will be i mportant inputs for earthquake disaster preparedness and risk reduction.
Every minute the first seismic station in Iloilo province will be sending “state of health” information to the Phivolcs central office.
The f ollowing are t he mandates of Phivolcs:
* Predict the occurrence of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes and their related geotectonic phenomena
* Determine how eruptions and earthquakes shall occur and also areas likely to be affected
* Generate sufficient data for forecasting volcanic eruptions and earthquakes
* Mitigate hazards of volcanic activities through appropriate detection, forecast and warning system
* Formulate appropriate disaster preparedness plans
Solidum said instruments of stations in Aklan and Antique and Roxas City in Capiz are not so sensitive so there is still a need for the evaluation of earthquake records, call their central office, and report whenever there is an event.