A FREE and lightweight disaster application in La Trinidad, Benguet can now be downloaded online.
The app, "Esaganak," aims to prevent and mitigate disasters.
It is a 4.44 megabyte application that can be downloaded through Google Play as a ready source of information of the town on disaster risk reduction management (DRRM) programs. It is equipped with hazard maps, evacuation sites, Go Bag contents, emergency contact numbers and more documents.
The application, titled "La Trinidad MDRRMC Esaganak," translated to English as "I'm going to prepare," is a comprehensive disaster prevention application provided by La Trinidad Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO).
Japanese Ryunosuke Ichikawa, who volunteered in 2018 in La Trinidad, started developing the disaster preparedness application for the residents of the town.
The application, officially released on January 24 and updated on February 12, was already downloaded by close to 100 residents as of this writing.
Ichikawa said that in Japan, it is easy to get data for hazard mapping because the government publish data on their websites.
The Japanese volunteer added that he made a hazard map designed to distribute to schools in La Trinidad and can be kept at home.
"It indicates locations of evacuation shelters in the town," he added.
The application will show a map for evacuation shelters in the town where users can search the nearest evacuation shelter by using GPS.
The app is also linked to the La Trinidad MDRRMO website where the user can access landslide and flood hazard maps of the municipality.
For emergency preparedness, the application has a checklist of materials that should be packed in the Go Bag and includes a percentage bar to track completion of the checklists.
The app also includes hotline numbers of La Trinidad MDRRMO and affiliated organizations, and offers the option to download documents such as the hazard maps, family preparedness guide, and documents can be printed and kept at home.
The residents can send his or her evacuated location, safety status, hotline to La Trinidad MDRRMO during an emergency.
Through the application, the user can also pre-register his or her personal information in the app in advance of an emergency in order to save time during this process.
The said information is handled according to La Trinidad MDRRMO privacy policy.
The La Trinidad Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council is a consistent Office of the Civil Defense Gawad Kalasag National winner for Municipal DRRMC category.