With the emergence of a milestone public service information system that utilizes the potential of SMS, the Filipino’s passion for texting could very well save his life.
Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services (PAGASA) recently launched the PAGASA Infoboard service.
This partnership between the country’s foremost authority in weather and the SMART has given birth to an effective, timely and wide-reaching weather information dissemination system that makes use of both SMS and the Web in making vital information for disaster preparedness available to mobile phone users any time, anywhere.
Information that can keep one from harm’s way such as typhoon updates, flood situation, or climate condition can now be received or accessed in the form of a text message.
“If all SMART subscribers take advantage of the service, they can prevent the loss of lives and property,” said Perry V. Bayani, head of SMART’s wireless consumer sales and business development group.
The need to widen the scope of SMS for use in information dissemination was first brought up during a Philippine Inter-Island Shipping Association meeting that PAGASA Director Prisco D. Nilo attended after the sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars last June. Immediately after, he contacted SMART.
“We hope to avoid any other similar accidents at sea that cause misery to many of our countrymen,” said PAGASA Dir. Prisco D. Nilo. “With the Infoboard, people can access practically all of our latest bulletins and advisories. They can then decide on their own whether to postpone or continue with their trip. This kind of service is critical.”
Before the PAGASA Infoboard, both PAGASA and the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) already had existing SMS dissemination. However, the scope is limited to selected end-users like government agencies and offices only. The public had no direct access. As it is costly, it is also impossible to manually send text messages to everyone.
SMART came up with a solution via the Infoboard, a web-based group broadcast service that offers various SMS facilities with different functions and capabilities catering to the needs of a certain organization or community.
For PAGASA, the requirement was to send out messages and at the same time allow the public to initiate messaging by being able to download information themselves.
The public is thereby given an option – to be included in the PAGASA Infoboard mailing list so as to receive regular text advisories and updates; or to initiate the downloading of specific information depending on what they need. /MP
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