The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology on Monday vowed to expand its Philippine Strong Motion Network or PSMNet.
In partnership with the Tanay municipal government in Rizal through Mayor Rex Manuel Tanjuatco, Phivolcs is set to celebrate the milestone inauguration of its 100th Strong Motion station today.
Director Renato Solidim says the PSMNet is one of the key earthquake monitoring networks in the Philippines that is equipped with strong-motion accelerographs strategically located in densely populated areas and near active faults.
The instruments are capable of faithfully recording large ground motions during high-magnitude earthquake events.
Data from the PSMNet can be used to provide critical information about the earthquake rupture process, understand the generation and propagation of seismic waves near the source, characterize the type of materials underneath the soil, provide information about site effect and response, and determine the ground motion effects to buildings and ground failure such as landslides and liquefaction. Rio N. Araja
Such information can be used by the Phivolcs Data Center for the development of an effective earthquake early warning system, the academe and research institutions in studying the physics of strong earthquakes, urban planners for zonation, analysts for hazard assessment, and structural engineers in building earthquake-resilient structures.
These would also be crucial in providing policy recommendations in order to mitigate the potential impacts of an earthquake.
The project started in 1992 with only four strong-motion instruments within Metro Manila.
Afterwards, the Department of Science and Technology, with support from the national government and in collaboration with the Japanese government and academe, such as the Tokyo Institute of Technology, has continuously expanded the network within and outside the National Capital Region to eventually have adequate coverage of the whole Philippines.