THE Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) yesterday said a state-of-the-art equipment that it uses in monitoring the activities of Mount Pinatubo has been stolen from its observation station in Tarlac.
In statement, Phivolcs said the equipment was discovered stolen from its San Jose Observation Station in San Jose, Tarlac on Wednesday during a routine maintenance activity conducted by personnel of the Pinatubo Volcano Observatory.
It said the station’s “seismic vault” was “forced open.”
It said the Kinemetrics Q330HRS+ Quanterra digitizer, worth approximately P1.144 million, and solar batteries worth around P70,000 were stolen.
“Quanterra digitizers record and convert to usable formats all earthquake signal data that are detected by sensitive seismic sensors connected to these by specialized cables,” Phivolcs said.
It also said that the San Jose Observation Station operates an ultramodern borehole seismic sensor “for critical recording of a wide range of volcanic earthquakes caused by magma intrusion beneath Pinatubo Volcano, as well as for detecting tectonic earthquakes for the Philippine Seismic Network.”
Mount Pinatubo is one of the 24 “active” volcanoes being monitored by Phivolcs. It erupted in 1991, and left hundreds of people dead and caused substantial damage to property. It has been under Alert Level 0 (normal) since August 2021.
Phivolcs said the break-in at the San Jose station was the third since last year. The two others occurred in October and in November 2024.
Phivolcs said stealing of such equipment is punishable under Republic Act 10344, or the Risk Reduction and Preparedness Equipment Protection Act of 2012.
It urged local government units and communities in and around Mount Pinatubo “to help keep volcano monitoring facilities safe from such illegal acts so that operational coverage of every sector of the volcano can be sustained for their collective readiness and safety.”
“Any information concerning the above case of theft, as well as all prompt reporting of similar incidents in the future, will be of great importance to our collective safety,” it added.a
