Reblogged from The Daily Tribune - Without Fear or Favor

The Daily Tribune - Without Fear or Favor

BISHOPS, SOLON HOLD AQUINO, OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE FOR CRIMINAL NEGLECT

UN to Noy: Address root causes of tragedy

By Michaela P. del Callar

12/21/2011

Lessons should be learned from such a tragedy that struck northern Mindanao and immediate steps must be taken to improve disaster mangement practices to avoid a repeat of such a massive tragedy, the United Nations said yesterday.

Catholic bishops as well as a congressman also said that government officials responsible should be held liable for such a tragedy as tropical storm “Sendong” that as of the latest count has claimed 1,000 lives and still counting.

The Philippines should learn from the recent tragedy where at least 1,000 people were feared to have been killed and the leadership should take immediate steps to improve its disaster

management practices to prevent another catastrophe of such magnitude, the UN said yesterday.

Poverty, environmental degradation, poor coordination and lack of preventive warning systems in the Philippines were identified by the UN as the major problems that resulted in enormous loss of lives and damage to communities and infrastructure when Typhoon Sendong lashed out on Cagayan de Oro, Iligan City and some parts of Visayas region over the weekend.

Margareta Wahlström, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon’s Special Representative on Disaster Risk Reduction, condoled with the typhoon victims and at the same time urged the Philippine government to immediately address the root causes of the tragedy.

“There are many lessons to be learned about risk management from this tragedy,” Wahlström said.

“First is that more must be done to ensure early warning systems are effective in an age when climate change is intensifying the impact of typhoons,” she said.

The storm was identified two days before flash floods swept through Cagayan de Oro City and Illigan City but complacent, unprepared residents ignored warnings by state weather officials as Mindanao is rarely hit by typhoons. At the same time however, local government officials insisted there was no warning issued at all. In fact, Pagasa came up with storm signal number two only for Cagayan de Oro and neighboring towns.

Wahlström said “more must be done to educate people on disasters and climate change so they understand the risk they run when they refuse to heed warnings and do not evacuate on time.”

The second, she said, is to “understand the deadly cocktail of exposure and vulnerability created by poverty, rapid urbanization and deforestation which results in huge loss of life, homes and hard-won development gains when a storm of this magnitude strikes.”

She noted that the proportion of the world’s population exposed to typhoons and cyclones has almost tripled in the last 30 years and disaster management is not keeping pace.

Philippine officials on Monday said the number of killed is threatening to breach the 1,000 death toll mark as 957 bodies have been recovered with 49 still missing.

With the devastation wrought by Sendong, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he is “very concerned” by the impact of the storm in the Philippines.

Speaking through his spokesman, Ban expressed his sympathies to the families of those affected, to the government and the Filipino people.

Ban, along with US President Barack Obama, said the UN and Washington, respectively, stand ready to support the Philippines in responding to the disaster.

“In the spirit of our long history of friendship and cooperation with the Philippines, the United States stands ready to assist the Philippine people and government should humanitarian assistance and recovery efforts be needed,” Obama said in a statement.

Japan announced that it is providing emergency relief goods such as water tanks and generators amounting to 25 million yen or about P13 million while Australia pledged P55 million.

On top of this Australian commitment, Australia already begun distributing sleeping mats, mosquito nets, hygiene kits and cooking items are now being mobilized and distributed to displaced families in the typhoon-hit areas.

Australia will also give an additional P42 million to help the Philippine government procure essential medicines to treat the injured, provide temporary shelter for the displaced, and extend livelihood support to families who have lost their incomes.

The European Union, on the other hand, dispatched a team of humanitarian experts on the ground to identify specific needs in order to decide on appropriate response and support to be extended to the victims.

From early reports received, the major immediate needs are in the areas of food, water, clothing, blankets, lights, mosquito nets, shelter and medical assistance, the EU said.

Union officials in Manila said the forthcoming concrete support from the EU is likely to be confirmed in the coming days.

A group of Catholic Bishops slammed government officials concerned who bishops said should be held responsible for the Mindanao tragedy brought about by flashfloods from tropical typhoon Sendong which killed a thousand,with a number still missing, along with the destruction of millions worth of properties.

Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma stressed that the responsible government official found to have disregarded his responsibility that caused the deaths of a thousand caused by floods should be held liable.

Ledesma said this is a good chance for the government to remove government officials found irresponsible as he should be removed from his post.

Ledesma added that the tragedy should be investigated after continued calls for the government to provide water shed or water basin protection which up to now has never been attended to by the Aquino government.

Palawan Bishop Pedro Arigo has been firm in saying that government officials concerned involved in the illegal logging and indiscriminate mining in Mindanao which he said is the reason for the flashflood that killed hundreds of people, should be fired.

Arigo shared the same view that an investigation should be conducted and responsible officials should be made answerable to law for their negligence.

He added this tragedy doesn’t stop by merely giving relief goods to the victims. Justice must also be done for the survivors and those left behind.

Bishop Arigo challenged Aquino to seek the help in the international community for relief operations and rehabilitation for the victims of typhoon and admit that the government cannot cope with the needs of the victims.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said those officials should resign from their post and also called on Aquino to seek the help of the international community.

“Mining companies are responsible for cutting trees. They destroyed the environment and the country. They have the obligation to help the people there in Mindanao,” Bastes said.

The bishop also criticized Aquino for his attendance at a party of the Presidential Security Group at the height of rescue and relief operations in the areas affected

According to Bastes, what Aquino did was a shameful act and said he is sure that the Philippines would be the center of controversies in the other countries.

He even hit the slow response by the government on the victims of calamities and President Aquino favoring mining operations which is the main cause of nature destruction.

Iligan Bishop Elenito Galido blamed illegal logging and mining operation as the causer of flashflooding in Iligan City as well as various aprt of Mindanao.

Galido noted that due to indiscriminate logging there are no more trees to hold the water which caused the cascading in the lowlands that has left too many dead and missing bodies.

With deaths expected to surpass the 1,000 mark, even as thousands struggle to survive in the wake of typhoon “Sendong,” Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino yesterday said Aquino and his Cabinet should be held accountable for the veto of disaster preparedness in the 2011 calamity funds and for failing to install proper preventive measures to mitigate natural disasters.

“As early as Oct. 5 this year, during the budget talks in the House of Representatives, we had already raised concerns on the President’s veto of disaster preparedness in the P5 billion calamity fund and its impact on government capacity to mitigate calamities. In the aftermath of Sendong, it again becomes clear that the government still has no proper disaster preparation framework in place,” Palatino said.

“Typhoons are inevitable but the damage they may cause are preventable. Government officials are right in saying that massive destruction in Northern Mindanao was not simply caused by the heavy rains; they are mistaken, however, to downplay the crucial role of disaster preparedness in alleviating the shattering impact of the deadly typhoon,” Palatino added.

Responding to Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda who yesterday said Palatino should “not politicize the issue”, the youth solon retorted that the Executive is just evading the issue on the lack of a rational disaster preparation program “with its standard arrogance against valid criticisms.”

“More than the relief goods and the perfunctory visits of the First Family to affected areas, what our Mindanaons ultimately need is justice for the criminal neglect of the government,” said Palatino. “The issue of disasters is inherently political in this regard as it involves government policies and accountability.”

Palatino also chastised Aquino for being so insensitive to the plight of Sendong’s victims as he was caught partying with starlets when the rsidents of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan were busy looking for their missing relatives.

“That President Aquino was caught partying in the wake of Sendong is a form of insensitivity that exposes only the tip of the mud pile, as it were. The more serious kind of insensitivity the President is complicit to is the systemic disregard to the welfare of the poor who, in the absence of a rational disaster plan, are the most vulnerable during calamities,” Palatino added. With Pat C. Santos and Charlie V. Manalo

Reblogged from PHILNEWS.COM

The horrible outcome in lives lost and property destroyed is totally unacceptable to this struggling nation of close to a hundred million people. The Aquino government must to get to the bottom of this. Already, the finger-pointing has begun. PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) claims their storm-warning bulletins were disregarded by local officials. Local officials on the other hand complain that they were never told how devastating typhoon Sendong (Washi) really was.

The United States sent several urgent communiqués warning the Philippines that the approaching typhoon seemed larger and more powerful than first thought. Like the other warnings, these too seem to have been downplayed or dismissed by government officials whose job it is to inform the public of approaching weather systems and the potential havoc they bring.

No country has a perfect record determining the severity that storm systems bring. Even the United States, with all its state-of-the-art detection equipment was caught flatfooted in the wake of hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans in 2005. What the Americans have done is put systems in place to prevent a reoccurrence from happening. It took them years but the U.S. managed to reinforce the levees around most of Louisiana’s flood-prone parishes, they reassessed their flood protection system as well, and now have new procedures in place to prevent a repeat of their inadequate response to Katrina.

In the end, this is what Filipinos want from their government officials. The country is being hit harder and more often by typhoons than it had been in the past. The people want an effective and well coordinated response from their government. At the same time they want to see long-range plans put in place so future generations of Filipinos can live in relative security despite nature’s wrath.

Illegal logging appears to have magnified the devastation wrought by Sendong. Denuded forests and timber-clogged waterways amplified the catastrophe in the cities of Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.

The Philippines used to be a country blessed with an abundance of natural resources but previous generations have been lackadaisical in their stewardship of those resources. That responsibility—to preserve these gifts of nature for future generations to cherish—now falls on us. Published 12/21/2011

Lounge Lecture on Community Preparedness, Disaster Policy, Support of Non-Profit Organizations& the Role of ICT

June 18, 2011, 8.30am-11.10nn, Andrew Hall 903

The lounge lecture is intended to provide new perspectives and widen views on disaster management, particularly touching the areas of emergency management, volunteers and disaster policy. The lounge lecture includes two distinguished visiting scholars from Florida State University and a researcher from the College of Computer Studies as main speakers. This activity hopes to inject new ideas to our IT and CS graduate and undergraduate students, reflect upon on how ICT can be carried out in the area of disaster management and its impact to our society.

About the Speakers

Dr. Audrey Heffron-Casserleigh is presently the Director of the Center for Disaster Risk Policy of Florida State University. Her areas of dedicated research include manmade disasters and the organizational behavior of terrorist networks. She will provide significant points on how organizations should prepare on occasions of a pandemic or emergency incident and the importance of disaster policies in placed.

Dr. Ralph Brower is a Fullbright Professor and the Director of the Center for Civic and Non-Profit Leadership in Florida State University. He will provide an eye-opener on the impact of non-profit and volunteer organization to emergency response and/or community development.

Mavic Pineda is a researcher of the ICT4D-PLC and has pioneered studies on disaster management in the College of Computer Studies of DLSU. She will provide new ideas of harnessing community knowledge (and perceptions) of disaster to reduce vulnerability, one of the projects she is involved in at present.


The lounge lecture is also open to the academic community.

For details, please coordinate with Ervin Samoza or Hazel Ventura at local 301.

DLSU’s ‘Sawatain’ helps LGUs in disaster management

Saturday, 05 March 2011 17:49 Rizal Raoul Reyes / Correspondent
Reblogged from http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/home/science/8219-dlsus-sawatain-helps-lgus-in-disaster-management

Information and communications technology (ICT) plays a major role in disaster governance. Being a country visited by an average of 20 typhoons a year, the Philippines must have a relevant disaster-governance road map to minimize, if not eliminate, disaster vulnerabilities and enhance the coping skills of the people.

In her paper “Local Government and Academe Partnership for Responsive e-Disaster Systems,” Maria Victoria Pineda, faculty member of the College of Computer Studies (CCS) of De La Salle University (DLSU)-Manila, said the convergence of research, education and training and ICT solutions with systematic methods, resources and capacity analysis, the elimination of risks and vulnerabilities would not be remote.

Pineda presented the paper at the recent Joint International Conference on “ICT for Development and Sustainability” in Bali, Indonesia.

In response to this need, the Center for ICT for Development (CITe4D) of the CCS of DLSU has ventured in the past years on developing Web-based management systems.

Pineda said the CITe4D has embarked on developing Web-based disaster-management systems, starting from studying and designing disaster-response systems for major government agencies. In the second phase, the CITe4D concentrated on disaster-mitigation systems as hazard mitigation because it is a very strategic approach to harm reduction in Third World countries. The rationale, according to Pineda, is to tap the local government units (LGUs) to develop community-based disaster risk-reduction functional prototypes.

At present, CITe4D has various ongoing partnerships with LGUs, among them is the province of Bulacan.

Partnering with LGUs is effective in mitigating the impact of natural calamities.

According to Fazlur Rahman, deputy secretary of the ministry of disaster management and relief in Bangladesh, and academicians Jean Christophe Gaillard and Virginie Le Masson, the most effective method to supporting the competencies of the people is through community-based disaster preparedness and risk reduction.

“Sawatain” (from the Filipino word sawata, meaning to mitigate or to stop) is the Web-based flood-prediction system developed by the CCS, focusing on mapping the flood hazard or affected areas.

“The stakeholders and important agencies involved in the disaster-management workflow are able to study the effects and impacts of an incoming typhoon by district or the whole province through visual mapping,” said Pineda.

Sawatain was able to predict the risk level of the municipalities in Bulacan through simulations of the impact of rainfall in the province. The versioning system conducts the simulation test before the actual rainfall, or when the rainfall reaches the area of responsibility.

Sawatain, according to Pineda, can predict the number of people and families who will be affected in each town and provide information to agencies, such as the LGUs.

“The system provides an effective alternate method of early warning through the Web system and short messaging system.”

Pineda said the system helps in the decision-making process of the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Management Office and the governor’s office by providing on-time reports.

Moreover, she said the flooded areas and evacuation centers become accessible to the citizens through the use of Google maps.

In terms of economics, Sawatain will not cost an arm and a leg, so to speak. It was developed using open source development tools, which can be modified for further developments since the codes are not proprietary.

At the moment, Pineda said the CITe4D is looking for potential partners in the country. She said the LGUs must realize that academic institutions, such as DLSU, can provide reliable and at the same cost-effective solutions.

Moreover, she said DLSU wants to prove to the government that it has certain competencies in the field of disaster management. Having a head-start, she said the CCS is familiar with the open-source solution, a system ideal for such project because it is cost-effective and easier for other developers to develop solutions on top of it.

“Academe, especially the higher-education institutions, can spearhead and initiate meaningful partnerships with the local communities or the LGUs in crafting ICT solutions that will enhance disaster mitigation and preparedness. Based on the CITe4D experience, there is a very good opportunity of designing systems that cater to the requirements of the community and developing cost-effective solutions,” she said.

Under the partnership, academe shall be interfacing with other entities, such as the LGU office, the community and other attached agencies like the weather bureau, among others.

According to Pineda, the academe will gather and synthesize the workflow and coordination processes of the different units, determine the user requirements, and design a sustainable infrastructure and ICT solution based on the financial and sustainability capabilities of the LGU.

Equipped with a strong ICT competency, Pineda said academe would be in-charge of the system’s feasibility or prototyping study and the whole project-management details.

Quo Vadis Pilipinas Series 2011

Quo Vadis Pilipinas Series
Crossroads & Tipping Points: uncovering the transformational role of ICT in good governance and disaster management

Reblogged from : http://www.dlsu.edu.ph/conferences/quovadis/default.asp

Beset by numerous challenges brought about by the quest for genuine societal development, the Philippines is once more at a dramatic moment in her history as a nation. The aftermath of numerous natural disasters coupled with the new found drive towards good governance have created a new sense of urgency for the Filipino nation. With this new found sense of urgency comes the question on how to convert this awareness from thought to concrete action; one that is merely a mental-emotional concept to a set of actions that will eventually lead to a deeper societal transformation.

Hope springs eternal, but action speak louder than thoughts and words combined: With an estimated 50% of the population being on-line and almost an 80% mobile telephony penetration rate (2009), information and communications technologies (ICTs) especially the Internet are seen as enabling tools in creating an electronic ecosystem. This e-ecosystem will eventually transform how citizens view government and vice versa; a possible catalyst for change that will result to a more permeable form of governance characterized by a redefinition of roles and expectations among societal stakeholders. Will this movement towards an e-enabled development somehow have its effects on the current socio-political and economic landscape of the Philippines? Is this an emerging picture of a knowledge-enabled Philippines? Is this a reflection of a looming ICT-enabled social epidemic?

Crossroads and Tipping Points intends to explore the various crossroads: issues and concerns that can identify critical events (or tipping points) that can show a reflection of a knowledge-enabled Philippines. Focusing on participation in good governance and disaster management, a special emphasis is placed on the transformational and enabling role of ICT. The event will also explore the negative and positive aspects of ICT and at the same time identify possible courses of action that can be set in motion to address these various concerns. Crossroads and Tipping Points intend to bring together experts-advocates-stalwarts from government, NGOs, development institutions, the private sector, and the academe to put forwards issues and concerns on the abovementioned discussion areas.

The Quo Vadis Pilipinas series is a continuing event that aims to incite a “revolution of the mind and heart”: an intellectual revolution powered by ideas that will form part of a critical mass of advocates that intend to push for societal transformation enabled by ICT. Quo Vadis Pilipinas intends to serve as a venue that would spark new ideas, promote collaboration, and create synergies among various stakeholders in the areas of ICT and societal development.

Consistent with the desire a continuous engagement with various societal stakeholders, Quo Vadis Pilipinas is part of the research and development initiatives of the College of Computer Studies, De La Salle University through the Center for ICT for Development (CITe4D).


Email us at quovadispilipinas@gmail.com

Date & Time February 11, 2011, 830 - 5:00 PM
Venue SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City, Philippines
Organizers College of Computer Studies, De La Salle University-Manila
Partner IdeaCorp

New DM Related Projects Oct 2010

Disaster management typically has four phases--mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery/rehabilitation. It is vital that we look into the needs of our local communities, educate and train them on environment care as the first step. Second is to know them, their strengths & weaknesses, the topography of their location, the climate and weather & the vulnerabilities of their environment. In this way, a holistic approach may be done, through healthy interaction & engagement with the members of the community & proper use of ICT in data gathering & solutions development.

In this perspective that I present some upcoming projects I plan to pursue in the next 9months.

1. A visual community informatics study of Bgy Banawang, Bagac, Bataan
2. A community-based disaster risk reduction system for Bgy Banawang (with focus on the impact of soil erosion& river widening)
3. Coral reef bleaching prediction system (with focus on impact of climate change)
(see http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071021225256.htm )
4. Emergency management system for DLSU

All of these projects will require open source geo-mapping tools & skills, web & mobile solutions.

Interested groups may attend the DM project orientation on Wed. Oct. 6, 4.30-5.30pm.

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.
---------------

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.

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.

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.