PHIVOLCS progressing with SAMBRO implementation

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) is mandated with the detection and alerting of earthquake, tsunami, volcanic, and landslide hazard events in the Philippines. Currently they are engaged with the Mayon volcano. Earthquakes are quite frequent, being surrounded by multiple trenches and sitting in the pacific ring of fire.

The CAP-on-a-Map project had involved PHIVOLCS in the capacity building and implementation exercises. However, there were delays in securing the required IT resources to operationalize SAMBRO. We are now working in developing and testing the CAP message templates. The aim is go-live by the second quarter of this year.

Presenting SAMBRO Implementation Challenges at CAP Forum in Thailand

The Sahana Alerting and Messaging Broker (SAMBRO) has certainly been gearing up to provide a complementing service. In one aspect, SAMBRO is capable of subscribing to CAP messages, aggregating them, and then allowing authorized personnel to relay those messages, whether they be public, private, or restricted. The process of originating and relaying was already tested in the Philippines. CAP messages that come into SAMBRO can be offered through a RSS feed or a RESTfull API. Users may subscribe to receive alerts from SAMBRO though email, SMS, FTP, and Mobile APP as well. The outcomes of this work, in relation to the Common Alerting Protocol warning standard, was presented in Thailand at the 2016 CAP Implementation Workshop. READ THE SAHANA BLOG.

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Training of SAMBRO Master Trainers in Thailand

Sahana Alerting and Messaging Broker (SAMBRO) continues to mature; especially with the Maldives, Myanmar, and Philippine implementations. Trainees from the three countries belonging to their Meteorological and Disaster Management Agencies are receiving training. They will receive training on GIS concepts, techniques, and tools required for developing predefined alert areas and training on administering, configuring, and implementing the CAP-enabled SAMBRO software. The training is part of the ‘CAP on a Map‘ project aiming to improve institutional responsiveness to coastal hazards.

Relevant Resources

• Training curriculum
• Beginning of the training
• After the first week
• Final day with ESCAP

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Spot-On building a CAP-enabled software for ITU-D

The International Telecommunication Union - Development Sector has procured Spot On Solutions to supply a customized software. It is specifically designed to foster the wider-scale adoption of the ITU-T X.1303 recommended CAP standard. The software, to be delivered and abbreviated as CAPITUS, would be utilized by ITU in their emergency communication capacity development activities. Thus, advancing Member States with the adoption of CAP for life-saving communication. Moreover, the CAPITUS resources would facilitate multi-agency all-hazards all-media warning, alerting, and situational-awareness capabilities to effectively coordinate crises.

The potential of the proposed CAP-enabled software was demonstrated by Spot-On Experts at an ITU Development sector organized workshop, in Thailand. The delegates, attending the workshop, perceived the CAP ease-of-use and utility through a series of hands-on exercises. Participants experienced the efficiency gains of the single entry of a message being simultaneously disseminated through multiple technologies to multiple recipients. They acknowledged that the CAP message was consistent removing ambiguity that may, otherwise, lead to false responses. Moreover, they realized the capabilities of brokering multi-agency publishers and subscribers for improved situational-awareness.

As part of a two phase implementation, we are proposing to deploy the CAP-enabled software along with self-guided operating procedures to be made available for Member States to utilize in their adoption. The software and on-line training aids would be offered through a web portal. Authorized members can access the ITU branded software, first to trial the software then download the software to implement in one's own organization. Self-learning aids (manuals and video), self-guided exercises with links to additional resources on best practices would be part of the self contained comprehensive module.

During the first phase, Spot-On will operationalize the CAP-enabled software. The second phase would involve providing the comprehensive on-line training regime for both ITU system administrators, ITU trainers, and Member States. We have begun working on the first phase objective of a customized ITU CAP-enabled software, namely CAPITUS.