MANILA, Philippines (PNA) – The National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) said Monday it embarked on a joint project with a telecommunications company and a non-government organization (NGO) in using high-technology communications advisories against calamaties.

NDRMMC executive director Benito Ramos said this is now pilot-tested in Eastern Visayas province wherein the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council (PDCC) is now using Blackberry devices and computer laptops as part of a text messaging-based early warning system against any typhoon or storm surge, tsunami, flashflood or mudslide, or earthquakes.

Ramos said it is similar to what Japan did when the 9-magnitude temblor that struck them barely two weeks ago.

The P9.5-million (US$ 200,000) disaster-preparedness project is a joint effort of World Bank (WB), SMART Telecommunications as service provider, the corporate-led Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), NDRRMC and the provincial government of Southern Leyte for nine of its coastal municipalities and for its one and only city as the provincial capital.

Southern Leyte Gov. Damian G. Mercado identified the 10 beneficiaries as Maasin City and the nine towns of Libagon, Malitbog, San Francisco, Hinunangan, Liloan, Anahawan, Pintuyan, San Ricardo, and Tomas Oppus.

The province was chosen for the WB-SMART-PBSP project being one of the country’s top 10 provinces which had been highly prone to natural disasters like floods, tsunamis, storm surges, landslides, earthquakes, and typhoons.

With nine of at least 17 municipalities having geological structures indicating vulnerability to quakes and natural tremors, Southern Leyte is located within a “rift zone,” or along one of the major fault lines traversing seven of these towns.

The landslide that buried the village of Guinsaugon in the municipality of Saint Bernard in February 2006 had underscored Southern Leyte’s vulnerability to natural calamities, the project noted in its memorandum of agreement signed September last year.

Even before the Japanese double whammy of a deadly quake and tsunami last March 11, the provincial government of Southern Leyte had expressed appreciation to PBSP for the recent delivery of the SMART-powered Blackberries and laptops for the project powered on text messages, or Short Messaging System (SMS).

Earlier, PBSP said it recognized the need to further enhance the capability of the Provincial Disaster Management Office (PDMO) of Southern Leyte in coordinating, communicating, and responding to disasters through the use of information technology.

PBSP said the project was geared towards assisting at least 35 barangays and eight towns to integrate the risks affiliated with climate change in contingency planning and augment participation in disaster reduction.

Citing the 2010 Philippine Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, the project aimed to strengthen the mandate of local government units in creating and equipping a Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (LDRRM) office and Barangay Risk Reduction and Management (BDRRM) committee.

Also called “Strengthening Disaster Preparedness of Southern Leyte through SMS Technology,” the project aimed to mainstream DRR and climate change in local development processes, according to PBSP.

Ramon Isberto, SMART public affairs manager, said during the project launch in September 2010 that the system has aimed to beef up the PDMO capacity in helping the respective municipal disaster coordinating councils and emergency response teams to perform their functions on disaster preparedness and response.

Rafael C. Lopa, PBSP executive director, revealed last year that the proposal for the project first won in the 2009 World Bank Development Marketplace as it aimed to assist the Southern Leyte PDMO in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation.