PALO, Leyte -- At least 10 innovations meant to improve disaster preparedness have been picked as the best in the Visayas after a year of rigorous selection process by Tuklas Innovation Labs.
The 10 innovations are among the 40 best ideas in the country out of the 262 solutions presented by innovators to Tuklas Innovation Labs, a community-centered project that seeks to discover innovative solutions to better prepare communities for disasters.
Plan International Philippines country director Dennis O'Brien said that after a year of selection, consultations, and testing, these innovations are now ready for replication by local government units and investors.
Plan International Philippines is a member of the Tuklas Innovation Labs consortium.
“They have taken raw ideas, refine, and improve them. They talked to communities to find out solutions. Tuklas team is now promoting the idea to local government units since they have the resources and they have their mandate to assist people to prepare for disasters to minimize casualties and damages,” O'Brien told reporters during a fair at the Oriental Hotel on Thursday.
These 10 ideas are bakwit (evacuation) kit, bottle-net life jacket, community resilience through effective communication system, compact mobile hybrid water treatment facility, museo (museum) bayanihan (heroism), pool of trained indigenous young humanitarian volunteers.
Other innovations include enhancing community disaster preparedness and resiliency through 3D mapping, Solvex38: intelligent flood warning and monitoring system, solar-powered off-grid information exchange service, and re-serve humanitarian corps and solar tekpaks.
University of the Philippines Tacloban professor Noel Elizaga, one of the innovators of the solar-powered information exchange system, said the technology can be activated once commercial telecommunication systems shut down during disasters. At normal times, the system collects environment data, which can be used as support to community decision-making.
“After Super Typhoon Yolanda struck, we walked 3 km. to the nearest hospital to receive an anti-tetanus shot. The (normally) 10-minute drive became a three-hour walk due to debris. Upon reaching the hospital, we found that there was no more supply of anti-tetanus shots,” Elizaga recalled.
“Had I known what the case was in the hospital, I would have made better use of my time going to a different medical facility, which may have had what I needed or I would have saved my energy altogether,” he said.
The system, according to him, will help survivors find lost family members, find supplies and aid, and conduct relief operations even if regular communication systems are down.
Aside from the 10 innovations in the Visayas, the consortium also picked 10 innovations each in Central Luzon, Northern Luzon, and Mindanao.
“Disasters are always going to be with us. They’re not going away and in some cases, they are actually getting worse, making everybody more vulnerable. We need fresh ideas that can help people cope with the increased vulnerability and the changing nature of hazards,” O'Brien added.
“Tuklas”, acronym for “Tungo sa Kahandaan ng Pilipinas”, is a community-centered innovation project that aims to support local solutions on disaster risk reduction and management. It was launched last year and winners were selected from the 260 proposals from 17 regions in the country.
The selected proposals revolve around the four themes of disaster risk reduction and mitigation -- preparedness, mitigation, response, and rehabilitation.
Tuklas, the Filipino term for discover, is implemented nationwide by a consortium of four non-government organizations (NGOs). It has a strong presence in more than a thousand communities in the Philippines. (PNA)
