LEADING wireless provider Smart Communications Inc. and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) recently renewed their partnership to enhance the country’s weather monitoring and flood-control systems.
A memorandum of agreement signed between the DOST-National Capital Region (NCR) and Smart provides for the co-location by the DOST of automated rain gauges (ARGs) in strategically located Smart base stations in Metro Manila.
This is an expansion of a similar agreement signed in 2012.
“We hope that this initiative would inspire other business organizations to follow Smart’s example,” said Dr. Teresita Fortuna, regional director, DOST-NCR in the media briefing.
Using the data from these instruments and detailed information to be gathered through advanced mapping technologies, Raymund Liboro, assistant secretary for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Preparedness, said the DOST aims to eventually develop computerized flood-forecasting models that can determine the impact of rainfall on communities in these major river systems nationwide.
Smart Public Affairs Department Head Darwin Flores said besides co-locating their services with the ARGs, some ARGs deployed in certain local government units (LGUs) will also use subscriber identification model cards powered by Smart.
Flores said the partnership would be mutually beneficial because it will provide information to Smart customers. There are currently a total of 14 rain gauges installed in the NCR.
The agreement signing was witnessed by representatives of the various LGUs in NCR, signifying support to the partnership and confirming Smart’s network capability to back the initiative.
“We are very happy to support the government’s efforts to improve the country’s early warning system as this would better prepare us for floods, particularly with the increasing scale and ferocity of weather disturbances,” Ramon R. Isberto, Smart’s head of Public Affairs, said in a statement.
Smart has taken the lead in supporting the development of flood monitoring and early warning systems in the country. It has backed the efforts of DOST Western Visayas to set up a flood-monitoring system in Iloilo province. It has also helped the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration to install weather-monitoring systems in over 60 cell sites under a 2011 agreement.
Provincial disaster-preparedness officials have successfully used the Infoboard, a Web-based short-messaging system to respond to disruptions caused by recent typhoons and earthquakes.
The same system is being used by disaster officials in Albay province, which has one of the most comprehensive disaster-preparedness programs in the country.
Smart has developed the Batingaw, which is now being used by the Office of Civil Defense and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Batingaw transforms any smartphone into a safety tool for emergencies and disasters. As part of its advocacy, Smart has been promoting the culture of preparedness to every Filipino not only through capacity-building but also through the use of its network services to empower high-risk communities and individuals to prepare for, and manage the impact of disasters brought about by climate change.