Philippines looks to improve disaster preparedness with geospatial tech

By Rosy Mina

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MANILA — For the Philippines, the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t the only disaster to hit the country in 2020. The year started out with a volcanic eruption and closed with two magnitude 6 earthquakes, one of them striking on Christmas morning. In between came Typhoon Goni, a late-season superstorm that was the strongest in the world last year.

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The NED’s primary tool for data collection and updates is GeoMapperPH, a web and mobile application that collates hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and coping capacity data from across the country. Launched last July, GeoMapperPH was developed by various government agencies led by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).

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In terms of disaster preparedness, local governments can use GeoMapperPH to create evacuation routes, develop evacuation centers, and situate public facilities far from danger-prone areas.

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The Philippines is looking to espouse location intelligence internationally by sharing its best practices and creating a program similar to GeoRiskPH. Solidum heads another Department of Science and Technology geospatial technology program, this time involving other Southeast Asian nations. Proposed before the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative aims to develop a science and technology innovation platform for disaster resilience across the region.

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