DLSU Students Devise Flood Prediction System A positive effect of Ondoy

By RACHEL C. BARAWID
September 25, 2010, 2:53pm

This article was originally published in the Manila Bulletin dated September 26, 2010, Sunday
http://mb.com.ph/articles/278923/dlsu-students-devise-flood-prediction-system

MANILA, Philippines — Its exactly a year now since Typhoon Ondoy struck Luzon, killing hundreds of people and damaging properties worth billions of pesos.

Unprepared and unaware of what was about to come, many Filipinos suffered from the devastating impact that the super typhoon brought.

What went wrong? What should have been done to prevent the floods? What measures could have been taken by the government to avoid such disaster?

These were the questions pondered upon, post-Ondoy.

While many instantly volunteered to help in rescue operations, and in the distribution of relief goods to the victims, a group of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Management students from De La Salle University (DLSU) Manila thought of putting what they are studying for to use. They created what the government should have done in the first place — a flood prediction system to help mitigate disasters caused by typhoons.

SAWATAIN
Senior ICT Management student Fj Sta. Rita had to swim through six feet of floodwaters in his hometown of Marilao, Bulacan when Ondoy occurred.

This experience inspired him to propose a flood mapping system for Bulacan to his groupmates while they brainstorming for a topic for their thesis project.

The flood prediction system called Sawatain, the Filipino word for prevention, is all about predicting what is going to occur when there is a certain amount of rainfall.

Maria Victoria Pineda, lecturer, research fellow for Center for ICT for Development (CITE4D) of DLSU’s College of Computer Studies, and the group’s adviser, says the students used the mapping tool as a solution. Variables like level of terrain, height of land, amount of rainfall and historical data of flooding in the area were also considered in creating the system.

“Sawatain simulates what is going to happen. We have chosen Bulacan as the model because it’s not only a flood-prone area but also has three of the country’s major dams. If it’s going to be a good model, it can be replicated and adopted by the government not as a system prototype but as a full-blown system,” says Pineda, an expert in disaster risk management.

Group leader Nicole Inciso says their system focuses on mitigation, one of the four phases of disaster management.

The other three phases are preparation, response and recovery.

“Our system is very scientific, it makes use of mathematical formulas where you can see right away the implications of certain amount of rainfall over a time period. With the system’s versioning function, you can do simulations before and at the time the typhoon arrives. When we talk of mitigation, early warning is very important so you can warn the people of the impending disaster,” explains Pineda.

According to Inciso, the flood prediction system can determine what barangay will be flooded, the depth of the floodwaters, and even the estimated time of arrival of the typhoon.

“When it gets uploaded in the website, the public can also have limited access to the system. Ideally kasi, ‘yung operator ng system ang may access like the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council. Meron ding animation na kasama ito, pag pumunta ka sa Google maps then click a town and you will see how high the floodwaters are. We included disaster risk management education, the different storm signals and preparations, as well as the emergency numbers of Bulacan. We also incorporated a text messaging function so the residents in Bulacan will be given an update on the floodwaters, typhoon signals,” Inciso adds.

In a recent symposium on disaster management systems held at the DLSU, Dr. Ralph Brower, a professor at Florida State University and expert on Philippine volunteer organizations, admits that the devastating impact of Ondoy could have been prevented if there were systems to warn informal settlers, and coordinated information systems that translate weather forecasts and rainfall levels in the mountains to probable levels of flooding in individual rivers.

“International disaster management people refer to their activities as possessing four phases: response, recovery, mitigation, and planning and preparation. The Philippines and other developing countries tend to have the sequence backward and with all the energy invested in the response phase. Once a disaster occurs, if you have inadequate mitigation in the form of physical protection against flooding, no land use policies that keep dwellings out of harm’s way, inadequate or non-existent information and warning systems, and no stockpiling and distribution plans for appropriate relief supplies, it’s much too late. The lives lost from Ondoy and Peping and other recent Philippine disasters have much more to do with the failure of these other three phases than from the work of the military and police in the immediate aftermath of the typhoons,” Brower observes.

The flood mapping system of the DLSU students, according to Brower, is a critical first step and a great demonstration project. But it should be complemented by “broader, nationwide and top to bottom plans and preparation that tie together all four phases of disaster management.”

Other research projects
Even before Ondoy occurred, Pineda says the CITe4D and the College’s students have already been conducting research projects on disaster risk management.

One of these is the E-VAS, an IT system for managing volunteer database and to help the Philippine National Red Cross organize and mobilize their volunteers.

“With E-VAS, we’re trying to manage the volunteers from recruitment, profiling of their skills, identifying the needed skills and training, and then deploying and mobilizing them at the same time. Volunteers will be given rewards based on how much work they did. Kasi ang volunteer sa atin kahit sino puwede but not all have the right skills for a specific activity. Kaya may training din dapat sila,” says Pineda.

Zouranouz, on the other hand, is a disaster coordination system for the National Disaster Coordinating Council. It aims to gather the reports, historical data of all the different coordinating disaster management agencies to make their work easier.

SAGIP is a system for management and distribution of relief goods.

MASIKAN is comprised of a social networking system for reinforcing disaster preparedness. Pineda says it captures the experiences of the people in the community and puts it in the system so other people will learn from it.

“We are now bringing the resiliency and adaptation skills of the people to a higher level. The super typhoons have become more frequent and stronger, totally beyond our control. We cannot just evacuate all these people. We have to be ready by training our people in disaster management,” she stresses.

Tap local ICT experts
Pineda says the government must recognize and tap the skills of local ICT experts, and even the academe to devise effective systems instead of investing a great deal of money on international systems.

“One of the problems right now in the country is that we are so much dependent on international systems. Look at the R7.4 billion Smartmatic system for automated elections which I think has shortchanged us citizens. We have very excellent local ICT skills that we can utilize. Our college alone, is already doing a lot of almost commercially ready systems. Instead of just buying new systems abroad, the government must tap local ICT skills in developing some of the required systems,” points out Pineda.

DLSU ICT students, she says, have very good technical and research skills, as well as the heart to engage not only in profit-making systems but also social advocacies particularly in disaster management.

“We want to support the government but to do that it should also listen to the university. Kasi most of the time, last na pakikinggan nila ang academe. But in other countries like India, they’re developing their own laptop and cell phones in their universities. That was how Silicon Valley also started,” Pineda reasons.

Nicole, Fj, and two other groupmates Raymund Cruz and Juno Siojo didn’t expect that their thesis project would earn not only a high grade but also the Department Award for its social relevance and role in mitigating disasters.

“We are happy that this project has become this big and was recognized. But we will be really fulfilled if the provinces and the government adopt and use it to prevent further disasters in the future,” ends Inciso.

Lectures on Green Space & Water Resources Management

The Center for ICT for Development (CITE4D) thru the support of the ADRIC Center and the College of Computer Studies of DLSU has invited a visiting scholar from Indonesia in the person of Dr. Widodo Brontowiyono of the Environmental Engineering Department of Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII). He will be giving the following lectures:

Green Space Development for Code River Walk
September 21, 11.20am-12.50pm, Andrew Hall 1403

Water Resources Management for Anticipating Global Climate Change
September 22, 4.20-5.50pm, Andrew Hall 1403

The Information Technology Department & CITe4D would like to welcome Dr. Widodo.

Students and faculty are also invited to listen to his lectures.
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The CITE4D and the ADRIC Centers have also organized a round table discussion on disaster mitigation on September 24, 9am-12nn. Different Lasallian institutes and entities are invited to take part in the discussion.

My Website Furthers Computer Science / Linguistics

My Website Furthers Computer Science / Linguistics

Carbon footprint reduction in DLSU-IT Department

On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 5:34 PM, OLIVER MALABANAN wrote:

IT DEPARTMENT

In response to the initiative of DLSU to be carbon neutral in a few years, please implement environment friendly initiatives in your respective courses starting next trimester. We can start with the reduction of paper consumption our academic activities are having. The paper industry is the third greatest contributor to Global Warming Emissions. Every little initiative we do to reduce the paper consumption in our department is already important.

So here are my thoughts.

Some suggestions:

1. Use a blog to post your syllabus, announcement & other assignments instead of printing them on a paper. This can be accessed in the classroom.
Ex. http://whymanagetech.blogspot.com/

2. Declare specific dates in the term as "green day", meaning no pork or beef meat in meals that day. Eating less pork/beef also lessens carbon emmision.

3. Encourage car pooling among students.

4. For those bringing their laptops, automatically remove the adaptor from the sockets after four hours of straight use. (they can also practice this in their homes). Use the phone alarm to remind the time the plug has to be removed.

5. Encourage use of recycled bags to bring home school materials instead of plastic bags.

6. Stop using plastic bags already esp. for takeout food.


Suggestions to the college:

1. As we clear up our tables by the end of the term, the college can initiate providing indoor small green plants to each faculty's table + the comfort room.

2. The college may also setup/provide bins for broken/old phone chargers, mobile phones & other technology gadgets.

3. Encourage use of recycled bags to bring home school materials instead of plastic bags.

Hope these ideas help.

A 6-month UNICEF survey: Mayors' delivery of health and education services - A POINT OF AWARENESS By Preciosa S. Soliven | The Philippine Star Other STAR Sections Education and Home

A 6-month UNICEF survey: Mayors' delivery of health and education services - A POINT OF AWARENESS By Preciosa S. Soliven | The Philippine Star Other STAR Sections Education and Home

Visiting Scholar Dr. Ralph Brower and a Round table discussion

I have done organizing a conference. I have done inviting a visiting scholar in the college. But this is the first time I have organized a round table discussion.

Pre-RTD
I learned my new academic friend, Ralph Brower, Phd from the Florida State University that he will be visiting Manila this July. And I took the bold move to invite him for a day in our college, the Computer Studies, hub of the unnoticed students (by choice) in the campus. He had small worries, he was actually sensitive of his Filipino colleagues (he is very much concerned like a Filipino as well). And I assured him that his academic visit was to allow our CS community have an insightful exposure of his experience on voluntary organizations particularly during emergency management. I was glad and grateful that I was able to convince him.

Preparations in the university usually requires patience and resiliency especially when you request for budget. I guess I have those characteristics. And my RTD was arranged. Our reliable staff Hazel Ventura and Roger Damo, were always superheroes in most of my events.

RTD

The RTD took place last July 23, 2010, 9am-12nn at the Andrew Hall 1506 with a good view of Manila (not its finest) and the beautiful sky. We had attendees from the Lasallian Partners Office, Lasallian Institute of Governance, Lasallian Institute for Environment, the Phil. National Red Cross, the Social Action office, IT alumni,the college, and from Florida State University.

There was heavy discussion on the need for collective action. Efforts from the government, the LGUs, the NGOs or even the volunteers were typically dispersed and uncoordinated. This sometimes turn into a fatigue of participation.

As our center invited the attendees to become part of a network of experts and resource persons in the field of disaster risk reduction, the group also realized that even within the Lasallian community, we have our experts. Our experts may have to be enjoined to come up with a collective action to help our local communities.

Reflections on the RTD

Getting the experts attend the RTD is one thing, getting them to participate is another thing. And the next big thing is to engage them in real action in helping our communities.

In the country right now, the Disaster Risk Reduction Law had finally been enacted. And the provisions actually emphasized the need to empower LGUs in managing their resources and the other resources that would come in. It is because LGUs have different hazards to face and have different ways of dealing with these hazards. But the new law likewise has not included disaster preparedness in the provisions. And there is this great need to look into ways how to help LGUs prepare, teach their constituents adaptive and mitigation skills.

Also in the country right now, the Volunteer Act provides for the creation of an agency that will coordinate various volunteer and non-profit organizations. The law emphasizes technical cooperation and socio-cultural exchange. But there are no provisions on who to protect and care for the welfare of volunteers, provide for their benefits and even safeguard the volunteers during emergency and hazard situations.

Both the volunteer act and the DRRM law will have to be reviewed in the light of being able to response to the needs of the country.

Special Thanks

In behalf of the CITe4D, I would like to thank Dr. Ralph Brower, Dr. Audrey Heffron, Dr. Kiko Magno, Mr. Ben Eusebio, Mr. Richard Villena, Ms. Eden Battad, Mr. Sherwin Ramos-Yeo, Mr. Andrew Tan, Mr. Johann Dy, the MCO staff, and the Masikan and Sawatain thesis groups for making my first RTD a success.

I am also grateful to the support extended by Ms. Chari Cheng, Dr. Rachel Roxas, Mr. Oliver Malabanan, Ms. Marivic Tangkeko and Mr. Sherwin Ona, CITe4D Director.

ICSBE 2010

I participated in the first ICSBE 2010 International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment last May 25-27, 2010 at Universitas Islamic Indonesia in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. The theme of the conference is Enhancing Disaster Mitigation and Prevention.

There were interesting opinions, presentations and of course research projects. One professor from Cyprus claimed "There is no such thing as natural disaster. All disasters are made by man". I think he has a point. In many instances, most disasters were caused by man's negligence, misuse of our natural resources, abuse of our environment, man-made pollutants & unplanned/irrational lifestyle. Other common factors identified would be economic, geographic, population and climate changes.

I had the chance to meet wonderful academics like Dr. Widodo of Indonesia, Dr. Doberstein of Canada, Dr. Jutta Eggers of Germany, Erin Joakim of Canada, Hamrul of Malaysia, Dr. Hussein of North Cyprus & the very kind Nanda, also of Indonesia.