The National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction (NCDR) held two international training workshops on applying big data and social media for disaster reduction in Taiwan.
The first workshop was a three-day training on Big Data Analysis and Applications conducted from 30 April–2 May 2019. The workshop was attended by Dr. Francia Avila, Emilio Gozo, and JC Albert Peralta I, along with two other Philippine delegates. Other participants included researchers and representatives from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, and Vietnam.
The training workshop included keynote presentations on smart preparedness, language analysis, and presentations on NCDR’s big data sets. Other aspects of big data applications in disaster reduction were also discussed. Participants were also toured around New Taipei’s smart fire department, as well as NCDR’s operations center, which are part of the city’s integrated disaster reduction system.
Dr. Avila believes the Philippines could achieve this level of systematic disaster preparedness; however, she also emphasizes that it must stem from a paradigm shift. “We have to be at that same level… we have to [work] together.” The Philippines’ participation is in part of its efforts in installing sensors in Iloilo which will send data to the BePrepared online platform.
Additionally, Science Communicators Ysabel Anne Lee and Anne Kathlyn Baladad of the Manila Observatory attended the second workshop on Applying Social Media in Disaster Reduction held from 25-27 June 2019.