As Typhoon Tino and Supertyphoon Uwan successively battered the country within the span of a week, leaving devastation in its wake and hundreds dead, a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that while the country has made progress in setting up its early warning systems, challenges remain in translating technology and policies into effective, community level action.
“The Philippines’ experience reinforces the idea that technology alone is insufficient for an effective and inclusive early warning system, and would require governance, coordination, and human systems in parallel to support anticipatory action, thus, to become a people-centered approach,” the OECD wrote.
The country currently operates a multihazard early warning system involving the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) and the Department of Science and Technology, through the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
The Department of Information and Communication Technology manages alert dissemination via short messaging services, cell broadcasts, and online platforms. Local government units serve as the final relay, ensuring compliance and delivering warnings down to the barangay level.
The OECD said the practical delivery of early warning systems was hampered by telecommunications disruptions, data and platform fragmentation, and capacity disparities at the local level.
It said private sectors, including the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation and telecommunications companies are pivotal in disaster risk management, helping expand the system’s reach, while also supporting technical innovation and financing.
“Formalizing these roles within national frameworks enables real-time dissemination of alerts and helps bridge the ‘last mile’ in remote or underserved areas.”
The OECD also found that despite a law requiring 5 percent of local revenues to go to disaster risk reduction and management, much of the funding still goes to response and recovery. Additionally, many LGUs are lagging, with only 34 percent having fully operational DRRM plans, leaving more communities vulnerable.
Translating technology and policies into effective, community level action has been a long standing issue for many local government units, who need all the help they can get to maximize the investments and improvements made to our early warning systems. Everything always works well in ideal situations, but when power goes out, or storms are just too powerful, too many points of failure and not enough redundancies often render those systems useless. Making sure that the people, especially those who live in vulnerable and remote areas, can always benefit from these technology-based systems despite extreme weather and unfavorable circumstances, will be key.*
