Disaster preparedness, just a text away

Lani Briosos-McDonough

For Virginia de Guzman, every typhoon season brings with it insecurity and fear. Living near the shore in San Francisco, a fifth class municipality in Southern Leyte, disasters are not an unfamiliar occurrence.

In 2003, a landslide destroyed much of the town and killed 200 people. In 2006, a landslide also buried one community, killing 1,000 residents. Southern Leyte has all the ingredients for the perfect disaster. It is frequented by rains and typhoons, its soil composition is prone to liquefaction, two faults run underneath it, and a big area of the province is surrounded by water. But now, the residents are better prepared to face any disaster. 

“During Typhoon Yolanda, we were prepared and were able to track its path because PAG-ASA constantly provided text messages through the Smart SMS-infoboard system,” De Guzman said, referring to the SMS system introduced by Smart Communications and PBSP which is being used in 10 municipalities and 50 barangays in the province.

The low-cost system provides fast, real-time and accurate information to disaster responders, decision makers and to the community. Using a simple web-based technology, the SMS system can send broadcast messages, advisories and information to pre-registered subscribers, and can get feedback from the field. Usually used for marketing and sales, PBSP thought of using it for disaster preparedness.

The Smart SMS-infoboard system was a result of the project idea of PBSP which won in the World Bank Development Marketplace in Washington, D.C. The project bested 1,774 other entries for its innovativeness and PBSP’s ability to engage the private sector in providing a business solution to the recurring problem of the lack of early warning systems and unprepared communities.

Tested during Yolanda and Ruby

San Francisco’s Municipal Disaster Action officer Servando Tio said that during Typhoon Yolanda last November 2013, the system helped disseminate information on pre-emptive and forced evacuation of families at risk. They also used it as official source of information regarding preparation, early warning system and response during and after the typhoon disaster.

Barangay Captain Rodrigo Baluran of Barangay Sta. Paz Sur said, ”When Yolanda came, we were able to prepare and respond to requests from the residents of our barangay and neighboring barangays on what to do because we received a text message from the Mayor/Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) using the Smart SMS system,” he said.

In responding to Typhoon Ruby last month, the SMS system was used to convene a pre-typhoon meeting with the mayor, and later to coordinate evacuation and response efforts. Immediately after the strong rains, the MDRRMO used the system to dispel rumors about scary results of Ruby in nearby areas. Without access to television and radio due to blackout, rumors of at least 1,000 people dead in Samar spread quickly. Tio checked this unverified information with the Office of Civil Defense and broadcasted in the cellphones that the rumors were false. Again, the system was useful in preventing panic and distress.

Days after Ruby, Tio received numerous requests from people and institutions to be subscribed to the system.  He reiterated his appreciation to PBSP, Smart and World Bank because even when the project ended in 2012, the San Francisco municipality sustained this service to their people by buying replacement laptops and cellphones for the MDRRMO and barangay emergency response teams as well as getting a budget to broadcast to more people, even to non-Smart subscribers.

More Value for One Peso Text

San Francisco is also using the system to issue weather advisories, special public announcements, and to educate the public on disaster risk reduction and climate change.

To sustain the gains of the project, the municipality allocated a regular budget which was incorporated in their DRRM Fund.

In introducing the SMS system, PBSP helped organize the local DRRM teams, conducted trainings and barangay contingency planning. The system is the enabling tool but other traditional means of communication were retained such as bantingaw and megaphones as redundancy measures. Fifty contingency plans, 10 municipal and provincial DRRM plans were crafted and adopted by the local legislative bodies with corresponding budgets.

Sustaining Zero Casualty

Today, the province is able to use the SMS-infoboard system in surveillance and planning. Southern Leyte is able to track 100% of potential calamities and facilitates response. Barangay disaster response teams send text messages to the province/municipalities to report changes in the environment that are significant in disaster management. They also use it to report actual disasters (man-made, epidemic, traffic/road accidents). Even international NGOs working in the area have subscribed to the system. It can also be used regardless of the telecommunications service provider.

PBSP and Smart Communications has replicated the project in many local government units (LGUs) and communities throughout the country. This is to ensure that typhoons as strong as Yolanda will produce more prepared and resilient communities.

Leilani Briosos-Mc Donough is PBSP’s Portfolio Manager for Environment. She supervised the World Bank Development Marketplace-funded project, “Strengthening Preparedness of Southern Leyte thru SMS.”

This article came out in PBSP’s Annual Report 2014 Inclusive Business – The Business of Uplifting Lives.