Tsunami warning system soon in Corregidor

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will install a tsunami warning system on Corregidor Island in Bataan before the end of the month to help minimize loss of lives and property.

The technology for the tsunami warning and detection system, which is part of a grant-in-aid project, was designed by scientists and experts of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI).

Phivolcs and ASTI are attached agencies of the DOST.

The system aims to provide coastal communities along Manila Bay with a reliable and cost-e®ective device for tsunami forecast via real-time information and signals.

The system, according to the DOST, will also allow local government units to implement appropriate disaster response in a®ected areas.

The tsunami detection equipment is composed of a platform with a pole to which di®erent sensors are attached: the ultrasonic tide sensor which notes the rise and fall of the sea level; dry sensor which determines whether water has receded immediately after a large earthquake, thus indicating a high possibility of tsunami occurrence; and wet sensors installed at heights of one meter, five meters, and 10 meters, which detect if tsunami water has hit the pole.

The sensors at the tsunami detection site communicate all signals to alerting sirens using GSM communication developed by ASTI.

The two agencies are now in the process of selecting communities within the Manila Bay cluster that will pilot the tsunami alerting sirens.

Last Dec. 14, Phivolcs and ASTI tested the complete set of detection and warning equipment for its Lingayen Gulf cluster at the Bolinao School of Fisheries in Bolinao, Pangasinan.

Aside from the Manila Bay and Lingayen Gulf clusters, the project also covers three other clusters: Albay Gulf, Subic Bay, and Lubang Island in Occidental Mindoro.