By Mary Charlotte Fresco
MediaCore, STII

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Director Renato Solidum Jr. describes the new participatory approach in monitoring and forecasting natural disasters like earthquakes “scientific yet easy and practical”.

The project dubbed Crustal Stress Community Awareness Network (CSCAN), is designed to train local people as active partners in monitoring changes in the earth's crust and draw precautionary measures before a disaster strikes.  CSCAN is a joint initiative of the Philippine Government through the PHIVOLCS and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

 The user-friendly quake-monitoring instruments called censors were installed to 12 municipalities and cities in Luzon where converging fault lines are known.  A fault line is a fracture in the Earth's crust where earthquakes occur.  

The censors were imported from China at $10,000 each, according to UNDP representative Thelma Gecolea.

The communities that participated in the CSCAN project are from the provinces, cities, and towns of Aparri, Ilagan in Isabela, Santa in Ilocos Sur, Baler and Infanta in Quezon, Marikina City, Batangas, and Sorsogon. 

“Local residents and volunteers in each area have undergone a series of seminars and training on proper way to monitor stress level (quakes detected and undetected) and interpret these data to determine the magnitude and intensity of earthquakes,” Dr. Solidum said.

Volunteers assigned in each censor's station obtain readings at least four times a day. Recorded data expressed in Kilo Pascal are transmitted to PHILVOCS' Data Receiving Center through fax.

Since the installation of censors in 2000, participating communities transmitted several forecasts and all were followed by light magnitude earthquakes. The forecasts including time and origin were recorded and analyzed.

The process is important to help seismic experts predict the frequency of quake occurrences and identify the areas more prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters, Dr. Solidum explained.

He admits that the technology is new and still in experimental stage. “However, the more integral part of the project is developing community awareness, introducing people to modern technologies from which they can draw scientific solutions and approaches in dealing with problems that affect the greater number of populace”.

PHIVOLCS associate scientist Leonila Bautista said that the participants are enthusiastic and responsive to CSCAN.

Dr. Bautista added that PHIVOLCS's campaign and information materials such as posters and leaflets are effective and helpful to the community awareness program.

From December 2000 to January 2003, PHILVOCS has recorded and monitored less than 320 earthquakes with intensity that ranges from 2.0 to 6.4 as expressed in Richter's Scale. The country experienced 11 destructive earthquakes since 1968 with intensity ranges of 6.1 to 7.9, which cost tens of thousands of lives and incalculable damages to properties and infrastructure.