PHIVOLCS conducted a REDAS training entitled “Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction into the Local Development Planning Process, Contingency Planning, And Emergency Preparedness Through the Use of REDAS Software for The Province of Nueva Vizcaya – Modules 1-3: Basic REDAS and Seismic Hazard Assessment Module, Developing Relational Database in REDAS and REDAS Exposure Database Development” last July 28-29 and August 1-6, 2022. The training adopted a hybrid mode as some facilitators and participants were hosted at the Provincial Capitol in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya while some joined online through the Zoom platform. The first REDAS training for Nueva Vizcaya was last 2016.
A total of 41 participants joined the training: 9 from PLGUs – PDRRMO (2), PPDO (3), PENARO (2), PAO (1), PEO (1), 22 MLGUs – Alfonso Castaneda (2), Ambaguio (2), Aritao (2), Bagabag (2), Bambang (1), Bayombong (1), Diadi (2), Dupax del Norte (2), Dupax del Sur (2), Kasibu (2), Kayapa (2), Quezon (2), Santa Fe (1), Solano (2), Villaverde (1) and 6 SUCs – SMU-Bayombong (1) and PUP-Manila students (5).
The training was headed by DOST Undersecretary and PHIVOLCS Officer-in-Charge Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr., Deputy Director Teresito C. Bacolcol, REDAS Programme Coordinator and Associate Scientist Dr. Maria Leonila P. Bautista, and REDAS Course Advisers Dr. Bartolome C. Bautista, Ishmael C. Narag, and Engr. Angelito G. Lanuza. The speakers and facilitators were Engr. Dave Andrei Rivera, Ian P. Javier, John Deladia, For. Jordana Marie L. Argamosa, Engr. Noel C. Rosario Jr., Sarena P. Tarongoy, Engr. Hannah Joy D. Torio, and Engr. Jose Vincent E. Cruz, Conrado Alfonso M. Favis, Marjoleen M. Belviz, Jan Van Oliver Q. Samorano. The guest facilitators included Ross Dominic D. Agot from DENR-MGB, Bernard Punzalan II and Vivian Gay Aggasid from PAGASA. Mr. Raffy Ian P. Pagala served as the coordinator from the Nueva Vizcaya PLGU (Photo 1).
Two days of installation and pre-training sessions were conducted on July 28-29, 2022 to guide the participants in the installation of the REDAS Tools and signing-in to the GeoMapperPH desktop and mobile application through the Zoom platform. Introductory lectures were also discussed to the participants such as Introduction to REDAS, Basic Map Reading, Earthquake and Earthquake Hazards and Understanding Floods and Landslides om the same days. A total of 41 REDAS, 36 ETAM and 36 SRM License Keys were issued for the training.
The training proper started with the Opening Remarks of the DOST Undersecretary and PHIVOLCS Officer-in-Charge Renato U. Solidum Jr. (Photo 2) followed by the Welcome Remarks of the Provincial Governor Hon. Carlos M. Padilla (Photo 3).
For the first two days of the training proper, topics included Attributes in the REDAS EDM GeoMapperPH, How to Use GeoMapperPH desktop and mobile application, How to Develop Exposure Database using Google StreetView (GSV) and Database Management. A building survey fieldwork was conducted on the second day to familiarize the participants with the use of ArcGIS Collector in developing the exposure database of their respective LGUs. In this exercise, the participants were required to survey at least one structure within the vicinity of the venue which is the Provincial Capitol. Earlier they were also required to building survey using GSV in their own municipality layer. A total of 353 buildings was digitized and 112 buildings were completely surveyed in the 15 municipalities of the province using a combination of foot and GSV surveys.
The next days were spent on the topics such as Basic REDAS Features, Philippine Seismicity and Earthquake Catalogue, Seismic Hazard Assessment, ETAM and SRM Familiarization and Familiarization with SQLite Parts 1-6. The participants were required to submit two outputs to test their understanding on the topics of Seismic Hazard Assessment and SQLite Part 3B (Digitizing in QGIS and Plotting in REDAS). They produced a simulated PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale (PEIS) map of the 1881 Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake for the first exercise (Figure 1) and a digitized land use map of the assigned area for the second exercise (Figure 2).
The training was successfully conducted with the participants engaged all throughout, despite the hybrid setup of participants and the facilitators. Based on the evaluation form responses, most of the participants liked the hands-on exercises such as digitization and plotting of hazard maps in REDAS. For the overall assessment of the training, all the participants gave a maximum rating “very satisfied”.
