MANILA -- The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Tuesday officially launched a website application that can generate maps and analytics of areas exposed to tsunami risk.
Phivolcs director Renato Solidum said the website GeoAnalyticsPH was launched as the country joined the observance of World Tsunami Awareness Day.
He said the data that can be accessed by anyone at https:geonalytics.georisk.gov.ph are provided by Phivolcs, Philippine Statistics Authority, Department of Education and Department of Health.
“We hope to improve the data through GeoMapper, the LGUs (local government units)," Solidum said.
Hazards, exposure, location data are generated on the website. Visualize assessments are in the form of charts, graphs, and maps to better help the public understand and prepare for natural hazards.
The website could apparently calculate an area's population that is exposed to tsunami risk, including their age group.
In a press conference, Solidum said the website would provide fast and accurate hazard and risk assessment to help the LGUs and government agencies in disaster management.
"If there's a possible tsunami after an earthquake, we focus on the analytics. Preparations for a tsunami are bigger than preparations for a storm surge," he said.
He said like the preparations for typhoons and other hazards, Phivolcs has a monitoring body tasked to relay information to government agencies, the media, and other stakeholders.
GeoAnalyticsPH is part of the GeoRiskPhilippines Initiative project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Solidum earlier said the DOST has allotted PHP24 million for this project from August 2018 to July 2019 with the big chunk of the budget used to buy computers and software.
The other applications under this project are the GeoMapper-Exposure Data Mapper, GeoMapper-Situation Data Mapper, and the HazardHunter PH.
He said the HazardHunter, which was launched only last July, will help companies if the business location they are eyeing is at risk by simply using the GeoAnalytics PH app. (PNA)
