CEBU — A fourth-year computer engineering student from Cebu Technological University (CTU) Danao Campus has developed a crowdsourced mapping platform to help responders and donors locate earthquake-hit communities in the province’s northern portion.
Twenty-one-year old Charles Zoilo Yana of Tayud, Liloan, launched the “Northern Cebu Earthquake Relief Map Guide” on October 2, only two days after the 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the province.
The new website allows users to pin exact locations and share relevant details, empowering volunteers and relief groups to coordinate assistance more effectively.
According to Yana, the project is entirely self-funded, not school-related, and built purely out of personal initiative to assist affected families.
The student explained that the tool functions similarly to Google Maps. Though he admitted it is not fully precise since it relies on free online tools and available application programming interfaces (APIs).
The young developer likewise mentioned the platform’s limitation of depending entirely on crowdsourcing from people with relatives or information about those in need, as affected residents in northern Cebu are mostly offline and lack devices.
“We have two options to pin locations: one is to search the place there could be, suggest and recommend dropdowns or just simply enter and it will try to locate the location,” Yana said.
“Second is manually, by clicking that green icon on the lower right corner, users can just zoom and navigate or find the nearest barangay,” he added.
The computer engineering major also shared that he pushed forward with support from his partner, who tested the platform and helped promote it. The pair contacted local government units (LGUs) like Danao, as well as Facebook influencers to help amplify the tool’s reach.
“My confidence in my project is not that high so I’m also hoping for developers out there to help me,” Yana said.
The relief map has recorded more than 500 pinned locations since going live.
Meanwhile, CTU has since celebrated its student’s achievement.
“Through this initiative, CTU underscores its pride in Yana’s innovation and reaffirms its commitment to developing socially responsible and community-driven technologists,” CTU posted on social media.
“Earthquake Relief Map Guide stands as both a vital humanitarian tool and a proud testament to CTU’s commitment to nurturing socially responsive and solution-driven technologists,” it added.
The website can be accessed through this link:
