Smart steps up support for gov't disaster preparedness programs

MANILA, Philippines - As the country braces for the arrival of this year’s typhoon season, Smart Communications Inc. has stepped up its support for the government’s disaster preparedness efforts.

At the top of Smart’s agenda is assistance for Project Noah, the two-year program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to set up flood monitoring systems in 18 major river basins all over the country.

To support the program, Smart and sister firm Sun Cellular have agreed to let the DOST install automated rain gauges (ARGs) in 600 of their cell sites in the target river basin systems. This is under a memorandum of agreement that Smart, Sun and the DOST signed last March.

“Aside from installing rain gauges in our network infrastructure strategically located across the country, our network services will also be used to transmit pertinent weather data for analysis and formulation of DOST’s grand flood warning system,” said Smart spokesman Mon Isberto.

“Our cellular network has withstood some of the country’s worst disasters and this gives us the ability to support the government’s critical disaster preparedness programs and the need of people to stay connected during times of calamities,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) has completed the installation of 63 ARGs in Smart cell sites nationwide under a separate co-location agreement in 2011.

The weather bureau selected key sites all over the country, starting with E. Rodriguez, Rizal which was one of the areas gravely affected by typhoon “Ondoy” in 2009.

PAGASA recently inaugurated one of these rain gauges in Mindanao which suffered massive flooding when typhoon “Sendong” struck the region last year.

“I’m sure the memory of typhoon ‘Sendong’ that killed hundreds in northern Mindanao is still fresh in our minds,” said PAGASA administrator Nathaniel Servando.

“Hopefully, with the use of ARGs and other equipment, which are planned to be part of one weather monitoring system, a repeat of that tragic event will be prevented,” he said.

Last year, the DOST in Region 6 and Smart also installed ARGs in the most disaster-prone areas of Iloilo City, completing the ARG-installation project in western Visayas.

Aside from weather monitoring and disaster preparedness efforts, Smart is also actively promoting proper disaster response in the country’s most flood-prone communities.

Together with the Corporate Network for Disaster Response, Smart is providing training to local officials of Marikina, Dumaguete, Bacolod and Cagayan de Oro, helping them formulate contingency plans and organize flood drills.

To complement the training, Smart is promoting the use of its Infoboard SMS community broadcast system to empower communities.

On its third year, the Infoboard system in its pilot site — calamity-prone Southern Leyte — helps manage dissemination and gathering of weather and disaster related reports to and from its barangays.

This World Bank-funded project which is being implemented through the help of the Philippine Business for Social Progress is a model that Smart would like to replicate in other areas of the country.

Isberto said Smart’s resilient network plus its network of infrastructure, employees and partners all over the country also allows the telco to conduct Libreng Tawag and relief operations on-site immediately after disaster hits an area.

He added that Smart is also active in disaster recovery programs, citing ongoing planning for livelihood programs for Cagayan de Oro residents affected by “Sendong.”

“We are using our experience in past disasters to help promote better community preparedness. Because at the end of the day, the first people who will help you out in times of disasters are your neighbors,” Isberto said.