MANILA: The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) on Thursday launched Project DANAS that seeks to strengthen the public's knowledge of strong disasters through a collection of shared experiences of communities across the country.
Phivolcs Director Teresito Bacolcol said the project aims to gather people's experiences (karanasan or danas) during past major earthquakes and other disasters using in-depth interviews in the vernacular.
"Ours is a diverse country, with diverse people, and diverse languages. This is evident, for instance, in how we have different words for earthquake -- 'lindol' in Tagalog, 'linog' in Cebuano, and 'ginggined' in Ilocano, among many others," Bacolcol said during the project's hybrid launch.
Thus, he said it is important for Phivolcs to listen to the survivors' experiences and factor them into how the Institute would communicate about hazards, risks, preparedness and proper response.
"Through this, we hope to make our disaster risk reduction and management initiatives inclusive and attuned to varying socio-cultural contexts in the country," he said.
The project, he said, is also a testament to the importance of combining the highly technical field of geology with the social sciences. "Science is not done for science’s sake. The end goal should always be to use the knowledge generated by science to empower the people to make informed decisions and take life-saving actions," Bacolcol remarked.
Phivolcs has partnered with the University of the Philippines - Visayas, and the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University - La Union Campus for this project. Bacolcol said these universities will help Phivolcs to study the interviews.
"We will compile these descriptions or interviews with eyewitnesses for Phivolcs to use these as references for a greater number of people," Bacolcol said.
He reiterated that the collaborative effort aims not just to document but to understand the stories experienced by communities during volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
According to Phivolcs, the research results of this project will highlight the importance of using local languages in communicating scientific and hazard information
Source: Philippines News Agency
