(Eagle News)–The Department of Information and Communications Technology is intensifying efforts to restore communication services in typhoon-affected areas in Bicol and Mimaropa.
The department said its Luzon Cluster 3 (LC3) office has been coordinating with local governments units, provincial offices, and disaster-related agencies to deploy emergency communications.
The team has installed a flyaway VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) in Catanduanes to support telecommunication lines.
In Albay, the department’s cluster office has restored Government Network sites in collaboration with the site coordinators, the DICT said.
“The team conducts regular monitoring of these GovNet sites to check the status and to account for possible damages caused by the typhoon,” it said, noting that LC3 also managed to man High frequency (HF) radios to ensure constant communication with different DICT provincial offices, cluster offices, and the Office of Civil Defense, and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
The department’s provincial office in Albay is also offering free device charging services and Free Wi-Fi for All Internet access to allow citizens to communicate with their loved ones outside the province.
In Camarines Norte, the department said the LC3 has installed a DICT antenna and deployed HF radios at the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
Portable generator sets were also set as a form of backup.
The DICT Camarines Norte Tech4ED Center is also providing the free use of Internet and laptops.
In Camarines Sur, the department is closely coordinating with stakeholders and monitoring telecommunication signals.
Catanduanes, which bore the brunt of Typhoon Rolly, was given an HF radio for inter-island communication among DICT LC3 Offices.
Satellite phones have also been deployed in Virac, Catanduanes, while continuous monitoring is being conducted in Masbate and Sorsogon.
“We stand in solidarity with all our countrymen affected by the devastating calamities that shook Luzon,” Secretary Gregorio Honasan said.
President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the NDRRMC’s recommendation to place Luzon under a state of calamity following the devastation wrought by “Quinta,” “Rolly,” and “Ulysses.”
With the state of calamity, affected LGUs can draw from the Quick Response Fund for recovery and rehabilitation efforts.
A price freeze and no-interest loans are also implemented in those areas.
