Mindanao quake, tsunami monitoring center launched

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology inaugurated yesterday its first cluster center for earthquake and tsunami monitoring in Mindanao.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) Mindanao Cluster Monitoring Center for Earthquake and Tsunami (PMCMCET) is located at the Southern Mindanao campus of the Philippine Science High School in Barangay Mintal in Davao City.

The center will serve as a backup site for Phivolcs’ Data Receiving Center in case of major disruptions at the main office in Quezon City.

Phivolcs operates a mirror station in Tagaytay City, but the PMCMCET is the first cluster center that is seen to ensure continuity of data and analytics services in times of disasters.

“Davao is the first of such center. In the event that operation in the office is discontinued, they can still provide the necessary information for the whole country,” Phivolcs officer-in-charge Renato Solidum said.

The cluster will manage the earthquake and tsunami monitoring stations in Mindano, which consist of nine staff-controlled seismic stations, 18 satellite-telemetered seismic stations and 12 sea-level detection stations and tsunami alerting stations.

The agency plans to establish more monitoring clusters in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The Visayas cluster center in San Fernando, Cebu is under construction and is expected to be completed within six months.