Cities and municipalities in the Philippines have started adopting inclusive, technology driven solutions to create more inclusive disaster preparedness and resilience systems, Komunidad Global CEO Felix Ayque has said.
Ayque shared this in his opening talk in the first session of Livable Cities Lab, presented by the League of Cities and Globe Telecom. The first iteration of the informative panel talk, held on February 27, focused on “Resilient Cities; Navigating Natural Disasters and Building Stronger Communities.”
For his presentation, Ayque highlighted “Localizing Climate Resilience and Sustainability Initiatives,” where he shared case studies of different cities and municipalities in the Philippines opted to use inclusive and tech-driven solutions to enhance local disaster preparedness, climate risk analysis and sustainability initiatives.
He said Komunidad has been helping local government units in improving their disaster preparedness through a digital, impactful and inclusive approach that will reach barangays, schools, MSMEs, and virtually everyone that needs weather and disaster information.
Establishing an Early Warnings system—a global campaign that has been saving lives—however goes beyond just buying equipment and sensors, Ayque continued. While these technologies can help, these can only allow monitoring. Data still needs to be analyzed and be presented in a way that the intended audience can understand it.
He pointed out that different sectors of people will understand data differently.
For the Quezon City local government, the largest locality in Metro Manila, Komunidad has designed the award-winning iRISE-UP that integrates their warning devices, remote sensors, data loggers and field equipment.
The case is different in Calaguas islands in Camarines Norte. A coastal community may not be able to host an operations center, but Komunidad was able to empower their residents through warnings written in Filipino that are sent through SMS.
Making sense of data
Ayque also said that the Philippines has a wealth of data, coming from the government—both national and local—and private sector as well. But these are not consolidated and some are not digitized.
“Digital and impactful approach requires access and understanding of data. In the Philippines, we have national-level data, but not connected to where it should be connected,” he added.
Komunidad has been helping some LGUs and even schools with these. “You have to understand how people understand data too that’s what is all about,” he said.
Ayque also joined the panel Q&A where he expounded that while Komunidad can provide weather and climate-related real-time, short-term, and long-term data, different sectors have different needs for these. A tourist may be interested in heat index, while farmers need data that would affect their crops.
He stressed that data presentation may vary with purpose and industry, that drives their point that to “broadcast the impact and not the parameter.”
Stressing his point, Ayque in his final message said that people on the ground should always be considered when systems are implemented. “Localizing these things is the way to go. Technology and data are also the way to go,” he said.
Joining Ayque in the panel are Makati Mayor Abby Binay; Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion; Angel Gumaltico, head of Technology Innovation Globe; and Miko Ignacio, Acceleration and Innovation Group Head, M360.
