Filipinos urged on using technology to mitigate effects of natural disasters

Manila: Filipinos have been urged to maximize the use of rudimentary technology, particularly in personal communications, to mitigate the effects of natural disasters.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, during a speech he recently gave to university students in Manila, urged Filipinos to make use of readily available and existing technology to lessen the impact of natural calamities.

"Even the best technologies cannot prevent a natural disaster. I am quite sure that we all agree with this proposition," he said in a speech at the Conference on Innovative ICT, CIO and Natural disasters held at De La Salle University - Manila.

"Still, even the most rudimentary technology - if utilized well - can help mitigate the impact of a disaster, and reduce the cost to property and human lives," he added.

He said that time and again, Filipinos had shown that mobile personal communications and social media can be maximised to warn, coordinate action and mobilize help during periods of calamity.

The Philippines, which is located in a part of the Earth that gets more than it share of calamities such destructive typhoons and devastating earthquakes, needs to be always ready and capable of reacting to natural disasters.

He said that at the immediate scale, social media and cellular phones are highly effective and cost-efficient platforms for providing timely information. According to him, these technologies provide a channel for sending and receiving information thereby ensuring government response that is grounded on the needs and peculiarities of each area.

Likewise, on a bigger and more long term scale, Binay called for the immediate inclusion of the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in disaster management in the draft of the Philippine Government Action Plan or PGAP for 2012 which President Benigno Aquino III presented to the Open Government Partnership launching in New York last month.

"The one thing missing in this PGAP draft is also to my mind, one of the most crucial: how government can maximize the capability of ICT in Disaster Risk Reduction Management. I am of the opinion that it is an oversight that needs to be immediately corrected," he said.

Existing technology

He said the technology to make ICT work in disaster management is already existing and there is no need for the country to wait a few more years down the road to get effective disaster mitigation equipment and know-how.

He said that research and development should not be a concern because the technology needed for this already exists.

Binay pointed out the use of GIS (geographic information system) and Remote Sensing as useful tools for geo-hazard mapping or identifying areas that are more prone to earthquakes, droughts, landslides, and floods.

"This would allow the concerned government agencies and LGUs (local government units) to take the necessary pre-emptive measures," he added.

The Vice President also said that after the occurrence of disasters, satellite data can be used to determine the extent of damage, conduct post-disaster surveys and guide relief operations.