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 Batangas – Modules 1-3: Basic REDAS and Seismic Hazard Assessment Module, Developing Relational Database in REDAS and REDAS Exposure Database Development” last September 23-27, 2024 at 3rd Floor Dalubhasaan Bldg. Batangas PDRRMO, Batangas City, Batangas. This is the second batch of REDAS training organized by the Batangas Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) for the last two years and the selected participants were from the municipalities/cities of Batangas that were unable to attend the 2023 REDAS Training.
The training was preceded by a pre-training session through the Zoom platform on September 19, 2024, to teach the participants the installation and configuration of the REDAS, SRM, and QGIS tools. A total of 31 participants joined the training: Batangas PLGU (7): PDRRMO (2), PGENRO (1), PEO (1), PASSO (1), PPDO (1), PROVET (1); Batangas LGUs (20): Agoncillo (1), Alitagtag (1), Balete (2), Calaca City (1), Cuenca (1), Lian (1), Lobo (1), Mabini (1), Malvar (1), Mataasnakahoy (1), Nasugbu (1), Padre Garcia (1), San Luis (1), San Pascual (1), Santa Teresita (1), Taal (1), Taysan (2), Tuy (1); Batangas State University (1), and guest participants from Alcala, Pangasinan (2), and Quezon Province (1).
The first two days of the training focused on the Exposure Database Development Module (Module 3) using REDAS EDM 3.5 and REDAS EDM GeoMapperPH. A series of lectures on Philippine Building Typology and Attributes in the REDAS EDM 3.5 were discussed to understand the contents of the tool. Afterwards, a seatwork was conducted wherein the participants were asked to survey a structure in Batangas City using the introduced survey tools. And then, the REDAS MapDig was taught for developing crop exposure data.
On the third day, the training shifted focus to understanding the capabilities of REDAS 4.1 software in monitoring earthquakes and tsunamis, plotting earthquake catalogues and focal mechanisms, and seismic hazard assessment. As part of the requirement in the training and to test their understanding of the tool, an exercise was conducted where the participants produced a simulated PHIVOLCS Earthquake Intensity Scale (PEIS) map of the 2017 magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Mabini, Batangas, using REDAS.
During the fourth day, the REDAS Flood Loss Assessment Tool (FloAT) was lectured to the participants by Mr. Julius Vincent P. Umali from DENR-MGB. This tool can calculate the impacts from floods using the building survey data as exposure input. For the afternoon session, the Satellite Rainfall Monitor (SRM) tool was discussed to the participants with preparatory lectures on Understanding Weather Hazards and SRM Data Acquisition presented by PAGASA speakers Sharon Juliet Arruejo and Bernard Punzalan II. Lastly, the REDAS CropDaT (Crop Damage Assessment Tool), a tool that can calculate impacts of crops from flood and tsunami hazards, was taught to the participants using rice and corn polygons they digitized in Batangas.
On the fifth day, the participants learned other features of REDAS, such as Barangay Intensity Simulation and Tsunami Evaluation during Occurrence of Strong Earthquake Events. The computation of impacts from the worst-case scenario earthquakes or the “Big Ones” in Batangas was also presented on this day. A workshop with key question on resource matching between Big Ones and the province’s current resources was also conducted. The training was a success, as 71% of the participants were very satisfied and 29% were satisfied based on the evaluation form. The training commenced with the closing message of the Batangas governor, Gov. Hermilando I. Mandanas, and the distribution of certificates.
