TABUK CITY, Kalinga (PIA) – Disaster Risk Reduction Risk Management (DRRM) officers and other concerned personnel of local government units (LGUs) in Kalinga were trained to leverage technologies for better disaster preparedness.
The two-day GeoRiskPH Platform training capacitated the participants on the use and understanding of various web and mobile applications, namely, the GeoMapperPH, GeoAnalyticsPH, HazardHunterPH, and PlanSmart.
The GeoMapperPH is designed to facilitate the easy collection and updating of hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and coping capacity data to support the decision-making process before, during, and after disasters.
“Nakita kasi namin na ang mga LGUs nahihirapan to even collect the raw data. Wala silang surveyors, walang GIS na software so eto ‘yung crineate naming to facilitate the data collection,” said Conrado Alfonso M. Favis, Science Research Specialist II of the Department of Science and Technology -Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (DOST-PHIVOLCS).
Meanwhile, the GeoAnalyticsPH is an application that can help generate maps and analytics using hazards, exposure, and location data while HazardHunterPH is a multi-hazard assessment tool that contains climate information, typhoon tracks, near-real time earthquake monitoring, among other information.
“Kahit saan sa Pilipinas, bibigyan niya kayo ng assessment results. Di na kayo pupunta sa PHIVOLCs kapag kailangan niyo lang naman ng multi-hazard assessment, pwede niyo na pong i-generate yourself [using the HazardHunterPH],” Favis said.
PlanSmart, on the other hand, is an automated planning tool for disaster rehabilitation and recovery.
The GeoRiskPH Platform training was held on January 21-22, 2025 at the Davidson Hotel in Bulanao, Tabuk City and facilitated by the DOST-PHIVOLCS in partnership with the DOST-Cordillera, DOST-Kalinga, and the Kalinga Provincial DRRM Office.
“Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and for choosing Kalinga,” Kalinga PDRRMO head Jolanta Baac said.
GeoRiskPH Initiative
The training of local DRRM officers is part of broader efforts to help communities and local governments reduce their risk and enhance their resilience to natural hazards.
It is also part of the memorandum of agreement signed in June 2023 between the DOST-Cordillera, the provincial local governments, and the Office of the Civil Defense Cordillera for the deployment of the GeoRiskPh Platform in the region.
The DOST-Cordillera said the project aims to address the need to enhance and innovate risk assessment processes and systematically manage risk assessment data and maps, not only for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation (DRR-CCA) but also for making development plans.
“Maysa nga problem nga makitkita mi is ‘yung access natin ng data natin between the local, regional, national haan nga agpaparis so by using GeoRiskPH platform, agpaparis ti data tayo,” said Mark Jenesis E. Laory, Science Research Specialist II of the DOST-Cordillera.
The project also aims to address the need for an accessible and comprehensive DRR-CCA – related database in the local, regional and national levels.
“Ti maysa gamin nga makitkita mi nga usar na daytoy is the unification of our maps. Tatta kanya-kanya gamin so problema met ti Regional Land Use Committee nu pangkitanaan na ti mapa. Masapul na tawagan maysa-maysa per LGU tapnu lang maala na diay data so this is one of the platforms or the way tapnu ma-unify ti data tayo,” Laory said.
[One of the uses of this project is the unification of our maps. Currently, LGUs have their own so this is a problem of the Regional Land Use Committee. You have to call each LGU to get the data so this is one of the platforms or the way to unify data.] (JDP/IOS-PIA CAR, Kalinga)
