Globe joins int’l telecom body’s earthquake resilience workshop

MANILA, Philippines - Recognizing the crucial role communications play in times of disaster, Globe Telecom lends its support to the earthquake preparedness activity organized by the GSM Association (GSMA), composed of some 800 mobile operators in over 220 countries worldwide, in Albay.

The workshop in Legazpi City is part of the GSMA Disaster Response Program, which this time focuses on the threat of earthquakes that result in severe damage to properties and cause significant loss of lives yearly. 

The event brings together mobile network operators in the country, the United Nations office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, and other partners.

According to GSMA, the event “provides an opportunity for inter-industry knowledge sharing and exploring opportunities for partnerships with an emphasis on earthquake resilience.”

The workshop also aims “to build capacity, create a community of practice within the operator community and publish best practices and case studies that can be used as resources for improved planning.”

The sessions will discuss earthquake risk overview and implications for mobile operators, mobile operators as frontline responders, establishing effective partnerships in advance of earthquakes, technical strategies and best practices for network resilience, and management in earthquakes.

“Globe is fully aware of the importance of telecom services especially during and after a disaster. So as a major player in the utility industry providing telecommunication services, avoidance of operational disruption is a must both in normal conditions and during emergency/disaster situations,” said Edgar Hapa, Globe enterprise business continuity director.

According to Hapa, the company’s mission-critical systems and its whole network infrastructure are designed for resiliency. This is achieved not only through the installation of redundant components, but also through disaster-recovery sites that allows Globe to operate in a back-up site in case one of its facilities fails.

At present, Globe has several IT data centers which are geographically distant from each other to reduce the possibility of simultaneous system downtime in case of natural calamities such as earthquakes, flooding, and typhoons; and man-made incidents like sabotage and power failure.