PlanSmart Ready to Rebuild Media Launch Held
PlanSmart Ready to Rebuild Media Launch Held
The Department of Science and Technology – Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI) witnessed the official launch of the PlanSmart Ready to Rebuild web application last 14 September 2022 at the Novotel Hotel in Quezon City.
The event was jointly organized by the web application’s contributing agencies – the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) through the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), in partnership with the World Bank.
(L-R): Asec. Bernardo Alejandro IV of the OCD, Atty. Lesley Cordero of the World Bank, Sec. Renato Solidum, Jr. of the DOST, Hon. Maria Lourdes Respicio-Saguban, Mayor of Reina Mercedes, Isabela Province and Dir. Edgar Allan Tabell of DILG were the Officials present during the web application launch.
The PlanSmart Ready to Rebuild web app is an automated planning tool that aids disaster rehabilitation and recovery initiatives, most especially in the vulnerable areas. DOST Secretary Renato Solidum, Jr. stressed how the app can revolutionize the country’s Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM) efforts, from mitigation to recovery. In his keynote message during the launch, Secretary Solidum emphasized, “As a decision-making support tool, the app will aid local government units to efficiently plan for disasters, to work smarter, and to rebuild faster, using a science-based approach.” The app leverages on the existing GeoRiskPH Integrated Platform that can systematically generate a rehabilitation and recovery plan using calculation tools and producing consolidated results into a pro-forma planning document template.
Officials of the cooperating agencies and World Bank during the open forum.
GeoRiskPH is hosted at DOST-ASTI's Computing and Archiving Research Environment (COARE). The COARE science cloud is used to host their applications, process, and store their data. COARE serves as GeoRiskPH’s main provider of computing resources needed to perform various spatial analysis and queries.
“We are elated with the launch of the PlanSmart Ready to Rebuild web app. GeoRiskPH is one of COARE’s major users of science cloud, storage and cloud resources, and we are fully supportive not only of GeoRiskPH, but of PHIVOLCS’ other related programs and projects.”Dr. Franz De Leon, Director of DOST-ASTI