SM Group, DoST harness technology for disaster, climate risk reduction

SM Investments Corporation (SM Investments), the parent company of the SM group, in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (DoST-Phivolcs) marked a milestone as the first conglomerate to complete training on the use of GeoRiskPH, a suite of online tools designed to identify location-specific vulnerabilities and strengthen resilience against climate change and natural hazards.

The two-day training provided hands-on workshops guiding participants through the GeoRiskPH platform, fostering a shared understanding of how science-based, user-friendly tools can help safeguard communities, employees, and stakeholders from seismic, volcanic, and other hydro-meteorological hazards, including climate change.

The platform enables users to determine which areas are at risk and displays percentage of land prone to hazards, in terms of demography and infrastructure.

Program participants from across the SM Group included nearly 60 executives and representatives from across the SM Group participated in the program, including teams from SM Prime Holdings Inc., SM Retail, Inc., SM Markets, BDO Unibank Inc., China Banking Corporation, 2GO Group Inc. and Philippine Geothermal Production Company Inc., among others.

“As a group, we welcome this partnership as an important step in harnessing science-based tools to deepen our understanding of disaster and climate risks and in demonstrating how the public and private sectors can work together to protect our communities,” said Koleen Davila Palaganas, head of the SM Group Sustainability Office.

“Given the SM Group’s presence across the regions, the effective use of GeoRiskPH can also contribute to the safety of our employees and communities, as well as enable faster and more informed disaster response and relief operations,” she added.

GeoRiskPH

GeoRiskPH is the central source of information for accurate and efficient reportage on environmental hazards and risk assessment to enable the public to perform hazards assessments anytime, anywhere, for free.

Since the program’s approval in 2019, the platform has further developed accompanying innovative tools namely: HazardHunterPH, which provides multi-hazard assessment services for individuals, public, and private sectors; GeoMapperPH, which is a multi-user platform that enables data collection and analysis for the development of the national exposure database; GeoAnalyticsPH, a web platform that presents maps and analyses to support risk-informed planning and decision making; and PlanSmart, a comprehensive digital planning platform that supports automated disaster rehabilitation and recovery planning as well as faster, smarter, and risk-informed land-use planning.

Pro-active solution

“This initiative is a proactive solution to better equip our stakeholders such as local government units [LGUs], national government agencies [NGA], and now the private sector to protect the livelihoods and lives of our communities,” said Dr. Teresito C. Bacolcol, DoST-Phivolcs director.

“This partnership boosts confidence and trust within our communities to have the support of a longstanding public partner such as SM, which is now utilizing the platforms,” he added.

“We appreciate this partnership as it provides us with an avenue for the exchange of ideas and appreciation from both sides DoST and SM, as to what is being done in matters of disaster risk reduction,” said Chinabank chief sustainability officer William Quesang. “For us at Chinabank, it provides us tools to be able to actively manage our risk exposure, rather than just be reactive to events and helps us in the assessment of future sites for our branches.”

GeoRiskPH is a multi-agency endeavor led by Phivolcs in 2018, funded by the DOST in collaboration with the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development.