During a press conference at the Sabin Resort Hotel in Ormoc City---one of the worst hit areas in the wake of monster typhoon Yolanda---Director Renato U. Solidum of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Volcanology and Seismology Institute (DOST-PHIVOLCS) urged broadcast stations prepare their own recovery response plans for severe disasters like Yolanda in order to remain intact and thus able to disseminate accurate information to the public, including calamity victims.
Broadcast systems should be resilient,” Director Solidum said. “Even if technology is all around us, in the remote areas, they are familiar with only television and radio.”
Director Solidum said journalists sometimes assume that the public will understand the words they say in their broadcasts.
What is important, Director Solidum said, in weather information is a complete and clear description.
“In the case of a storm surge for example, the information should let people picture in their minds the consequence. That should be one of the improvements,” he suggested.
DOST Region 8 Director Edgardo M. Esperancilla echoed Solidum’s statements, underscoring the possibility of hampered delivery of information due to telecommunications equipment getting bogged down as a consequence of a strong typhoon or earthquake.
Director Esperanilla related that Yolanda left a terrible trail of destruction in the region that only a small portion of Tacloban City had signal.
“It took a few days before text messages can get through. Before this, the locals did not know what was happening. This is the reason why a lot of the survivors began leaving Tacloban five days after the super typhoon left the Philippines. They had no TV, no radio. They were misinformed. Mere hearsay was floating around,” Director Esperancilla explained.
The presscon was part of the DOST’s nationwide information campaign called “Iba Na Ang Panahon (INAP) : Science for Safer Communities,”which features the latest science-based information, tools and technologies to identify and understand the possible impact of hazards in communities. Tools in INAP included 3D hazard maps, flood models, Project NOAH website, mobile applications and others. #
Walang komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento