The DICT was set to deploy mobile operations vehicles in disaster hotspots.
DICT — The Department of Information and Communications Technology, through the Government Emergency Communications System (GECS) project, was set to deploy 3 MOVE (mobile operations vehicles for emergency) units in disaster hotspots across the Philippines.
DICT Usec. for Resilient Government Emergency Communications Alan A. Silor said that the DICT, through GECS, strengthened the government’s capacity in disaster response and preparedness.
Silor said that the DICT led the ETC (Emergency Telecommunications Cluster) of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Cluster in the pursuit of “establishing critical communications lifelines in times of disaster”.
“What we need in order to succeed in this project is the passion, love, and the heart to save others. This is a continuing project that the DICT will have,” Silor said. “It’s a continuous way of helping the country to become resilient, especially in the use of ICT.”
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Meanwhile, telecommunications companies in the Philippines said over the weekend that they’re working to restore services in Mindanao and Visayas in the wake of the devastation of Typhoon “Odette”.
PLDT and Smart Communications said that they had restored their mobile internet services and SMS in most parts of Mindanao and repairs have also commenced to restore affected fixed-line services in the region.
Cathy Yap-Yang, First Vice President and Group Head, Corporate Communications for PLDT and Smart, said on Saturday that PLDT and Smart personnel braved impassable roads and fallen trees in order to reach downed sites and to quickly repair affected network equipment.
Repairs in Visayas and Palawan, meanwhile, were still ongoing.
Globe Telecom, for its part, said that its field teams were working to fix data and mobile services in both Mindanao and Visayas. Services in Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Bukidnon have already been restored as of Friday night.
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