Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management chief Jeremias Alili said they are considering the utilization of local dialects, particularly Cuyonon in the notification system of the Listo Palaweño application. .
The application which PDRRMO recently launched for disaster and other incident reporting and response is currently under development and will soon feature an alert notification to citizens regarding possible calamities like heavy rainfall, similar to that of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
“Yung notification system, pwede sya actually i-localize. Meron kaming ganung usapan with the developer where we will adopt sa demand ng area. Kapag ganun, si MDRRMO ang magre-recommend kung ano yung gusto nila. Like may Cuyunon version,” Alili said.
The application’s main feature available at present is the reporting system, where citizens may send reports of incidents from the different municipalities in Palawan.
“Yung incident and situational reporting, importante sa amin yun sa command centers. Kapag halimbawa kayo ay nag-report, makikita sa command center ang situation immediately pag-click ng send, magpi-ping doon sa amin dahil doon sa command center, ang makikita ay mapa. So bawat municipality magkakaroon ng ganyan so halimbawa sa Brooke’s Point, kapag may nag-report na ang incident ay sa Brooke’s Point, makukuha nila yung info and immediately they can send help,” he explained.
“The first report we received was of a landslide in Barangay Dumarao, Roxas. Ni-launch natin nung umaga and kinahapunan, may report ng landslide at yun ay narespondehan kaagad ng MDRRMO Roxas with the DPWH para i-clear,” he said.
Phase 2 of the app will involve information dissemination in different aspects.
“May meeting ako (with the developer) para sa phase 2 ng Listo app that will involve information in such a way na magkakaroon ng education like magtuturo ng BLS, ng basic firefighting, and pangalawa, information in such a way na maibibigay natin yung mga activities, and pangatlo, information like yung mga response organizations sa bawat munisipyo ay nakalagay din diyan,” he said.
He went on to say that, in addition to the app, they also have other ways to talk to each other. This way, if a disaster knocks out the signals from phone companies, they still have other options.
“Ang isang ginagawa naming ngayon is yung redundancy ng aming communication system. May mga procurement kami ngayon like BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) na direct from satellite, and pagdating naman sa mga munisipyo ay may mga DICT installations tayo. Yung redundancy maraming back up – meron tayong VHF, UHF, SSB, cellphone, application, and then we are into yung radio soon, PIO operated FM radio station with relay stations sa mga municipalities. So yun yung next level ng ating preparation,” he said, adding that communication is an important part of preparation and mitigation.
