How the Philippines is mitigating disaster and advancing social development with data
By Jaz Low
Rodolfo Calzado Jr., National Coordinator at the UNDP shares how the organisation is supporting disaster risk management and promoting social development in the Philippines.
The devastating typhoon emphasised the importance of disaster response and recovery to the nation. Today, the Philippines has mounted a more resilient front by consolidating a central database to predict natural hazards. The UNDP is also helping the country to further social programmes and safeguard its development, which may be offset by natural calamities.
Rodolfo Calzado Jr., National Coordinator at the UNDP highlights how data is helping the Philippines assess climate change vulnerabilities, natural hazards, and other pressing social issues.
Monitoring natural hazards
Located in the Pacific typhoon belt, the Philippines experiences many forms of natural disasters. Typhoons, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions, and landslides are common phenomena, resulting in millions of dollars in damage and countless human casualties.
In response to these threats, UNDP Philippines and the Australian Government have signed an agreement for the Strengthening Institutions and Empowering Localities against Disasters and Climate Change (SHIELD) Programme.
The aim of this initiative is to work with local governments to build their resilience capacities against natural hazards and climate change.
One of the projects that SHIELD supports is GeoRiskPH, a central database that guides government agencies and members of the public to anticipate and prepare for natural disasters.
The information warehouse is vital in ensuring that there is fluid data sharing among agencies to optimise disaster planning, Calzado says.
This database supports a number of functions.
First, one function allows users to find out if a location is prone to natural hazards. They can even zoom in to observe roads, bridges, houses, and other amenities that might be affected.
The same function also produces hazard assessment reports in just 15 seconds, instead of the one to three days it may take government agencies to manually generate.
Second, another function under the database generates maps, charts, and graphs to help the public understand the scale of incoming disasters and take necessary precautions against them. For instance, they can see exactly which areas of land, population groups, and health facilities will be affected.
Monitoring the effectiveness of social development programmes
Aside from mitigating natural disasters, the UNDP is also committed to advancing social development in the Philippines. It has created the Development through Local Indicators and Vulnerability Exposure Database (DevLIVE+) application to monitor natural hazards and the delivery of social services.
DevLIVE+ helps governments form decisions by studying a number of data sets, including geographic coordinates tagged to media.
Such data can reveal that many people in a certain region are searching for the types of financial relief available to single mothers. This can serve as an indicator that the government should divert more attention toward this area.
Alternatively, if there are many complaints about a particular policy, this prompts the authorities to implement the necessary corrections.
Apart from gauging how effective community programmes are, the authorities can rely on this data to improve budgeting. “They can allocate more funds to areas that require more interventions,” Calzado adds.
Transforming communities with data
The Piagapo municipal government used the DevLIVE+ database to identify beneficiaries for the distribution of social assistance and relief goods.
In Vigan City, DevLIVE+ data was crucial in helping the government to plan and manage its Early Childhood Care and Development programme.
Findings revealed that many children lagged behind in reading levels for their age group, so the city put together an afterschool reading programme to boost comprehension skills.
Initially, 30 per cent of children were deemed to possess inadequate reading abilities, but by the end of the initiative, this figure dropped to just ten per cent.
The city also developed the Vigan Access Card, which allows citizens to access public amenities. By keeping track of how often facilities were used on DevLIVE+, government officials were able to refine city planning.
For instance, if the public library experienced constant crowding, authorities could introduce measures to regulate traffic or construct more libraries around the city.
UNDP will continue to support the Philippines in disaster risk management and fine-tuning its social development programmes. While Typhoon Haiyan might have left the country defenceless back in 2013, data is preparing communities on all fronts today.