By Tracy Cabrera
SALCEDO VILLAGE, Makati City — Rather than waiting for fragmented reports from the field, the government’s emergency managers are prioritizing search-and-rescue operations and allocating resources based on continuously updated analytics using advanced technology.
This is the future envisioned by the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC), whose disaster intelligence platform is quietly powering parts of the country’s emergency management through a system called PhilAWARE.
The technology was initially tested during the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck off Maasim, Sarangani on June 8 of this year.
Within minutes, the system was compiling earthquake data, tsunami warnings, landslide risks, damaged infrastructure, and population information into a common operating picture used by local government disaster responders.
The resulting response demonstrated that the value of the platform lay not in any single technology but in its ability to integrate multiple data streams into actionable intelligence.
PhilAWARE is the government’s disaster intelligence platform, originally developed by the PDC with funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAid) before being transferred to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD).
In an interview, PDC director of information technology Cassie Stelow described the platform as a multiple-technology ecosystem that combines artificial intelligence, geospatial analytics, authoritative scientific data and automated communications to transform raw hazard bulletins into life-saving information.
Unlike conventional warning systems that simply forward weather advisories, DisasterAWARE functions as a continuously operating intelligence platform that gathers daily information from meteorological agencies, volcano observatories, seismic networks, humanitarian organizations and government partners around the world.
These agencies include the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), and Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA).
According to Director Stelow, incoming information gathered by the platform does not simply appear on a dashboard but instead enters a processing pipeline where the system immediately overlays hazard data with extensive baseline information that PDC has already collected.
These databases include hospitals, schools, roads, power infrastructure, demographics, poverty indicators, language distribution, and previous disaster impacts.
“If the bulletin drops in, that’s when I can extract the points on the map—Where is the typhoon heading? What is the wind radius? Then we intersect it with the critical infrastructure that we already have mapped,” he described the platform’s function.
“The result is a far richer understanding than a standard weather forecast. Rather than simply identifying where a typhoon will make landfall, DisasterAWARE estimates how many hospitals fall within the danger zone, how many elderly residents live there, whether communities are already recovering from previous disasters, and which roads or evacuation routes may become inaccessible,” he added.
ia/xf
