My Priority Projects in 2010-2011--All on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

In the onset of 2009, I approached Mr. Sherwin Ona, a colleague, coach in research and my supervisor in the center. I asked him if I could do research work on disasters. And he gave his blessing and some advices.

My idea of disaster back then was more of man-made dangers and hazards, mostly a result of man's carelessness, anger and atrocities. But in the course of reading and studying, I stumbled on the impact of man's less regard for the environment and how it affects the ecosystem of climate and our environment. This was the start of my initiatives on the area of disaster risk.

While there are already many experts, I have been reading and studying together with my mentees. My long years of exposure in information management systems development and research in the undergraduate level program were part of my tools. Since January 2009 to the present, I had the chance to inspire interests among students to do ICT systems and solutions in the area of disaster management. And along the way, this also meant building expertise of young professionals in the area of ICT and disaster management.

Here are the recent and current projects (as of July 2010) accomplished by my student groups under my mentorship:

• E-VAS: Volunteer management system for the Phil National Red Cross- finished, Dec 2009
• ZOURANOUZ: Disaster coordination system for NDCC- finished, Dec 2009
• SAGIP: VMS extension with emphasis on Relief Goods Management and Distribution- finished, April 2010
• MASIKAN: A social networking system for reinforcing disaster preparedness
o Community: San Simon, Pampanga, a 3rd class municipality
o Status: on going, development and testing stage
• SAWATAIN: Flood prediction using simulation and disaster mapping for mitigation
o Community: Bulacan province, 21 municipalities, 3 cities, 3 watersheds
o Status: on going, development and testing design stage

New projects underway are the Community-based disaster risk reduction system for the community of Banaba, San Mateo; simulation of the dynamics of dam management; and a web-based system for the social action center of DLSU.

I hope to inspire faculty members and students to engage in disaster mitigation and local heritage preservation; IT risk management,business continuity systems & emergency management. I also have strong preferences on ICT project development that encourages the use of open source software and systems; enhanced use of mapping tools, mobile solutions, and intelligent simulations.

A Cool Android Application-the Earthquake Realtime Indicator

There are so many popular tools and applications for the android mobile phones and the iphones as well. But one of my favorite tool is the Earthquake Realtime Indicator by Androidzoom. It alerts you every time an earthquake was detected in any part of the globe. There are also tabs (2) for you to be able to view the location of the earthquake on the google map and (3) another one to tell all related information and news about the recent earthquake.

It may sound very cryptic whenever you hear the beep and see the Ei icon popping on top of the phone screen. And when you check it especially on a weekend, to see a long list of earthquakes occurring in sequence with intensities over 4.0 scale-- it can give you goose bumps.

But on the other hand, monitoring all these earthquake instances would also tell a pattern even for a non-earthquake expert. It shows earthquakes are natural phenomenons. It shows there are locations that naturally prone or induced to earthquakes. And many earthquakes also take place in bodies of water. These are some of the initial observations I have. Android phone users may also try it out and share insights on this. Cheers to Android apps!

Revitalized in 2010

It's been a while since I made this long pause in blogging. It's like I wanted to have my personal time and space. But now, I have so many projects and activities that involved mostly my students, I think it's time to go visible again online.

I plan this 2010 to use this blog to update my students with my ideas and activities and a hub for us to share insights and constructive ideas. I also plan to create a twitter account so my students would have an easy way to follow.