Press Release
SMART enables communications despite Ondoy’
SMART engineers work round-the-clock to restore communication services in hard-hit areas and to provide communications support to Libreng Tawag centers.
[September 30, 2009/MANILA] - At the height of typhoon ‘Ondoy’, SMART subscribers reached for their cell phones and found them working.
“Maraming salamat sa SMART sa magandang signal nila kahit na binagyo na ang Cainta. Napakahalaga ng komunikasyon sa panahon ng mga kalamidad upang makipag-ugnayan sa mga kinuukulan at mga pamilya ng biktima, (We thank SMART for maintaining their signal in Cainta during the storm, which enabled us to reach authorities and family members)” said Junior Bona, a resident of Cainta.
With the need for communications even more vital in times of disasters, Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) immediately set up Libreng Tawag centers at the Barangka Barangay Hall in Marikina City, Ever Gotesco Mall in Pasig City and at the Cainta Municipal Hall to enable affected residents to make free calls. This was crucial since SMART was still available in these areas even if operations had been affected by the floods and the succeeding power shortages.
“Lumubog po ang bahay namin. Ang tatay ko naglilinis pa kaya inutusan niya ako tumawag kay mama sa Singapore. Nagpapasalamat kami sa Libreng Tawag ng Smart. Kung wala nito, siguradong hanggang ngayon nag-aalala pa rin ang nanay ko kung ano na ang nangyari sa amin, (Since my father had to clean our house, which was submerged in floodwaters, he sent me to the Libreng Tawag Center to call my mom in Singapore. If not for SMART, my mother would still be worrying about us.)” said Trisha Zapanta.
Even before ‘Ondoy’ struck, SMART had already mobilized its service watch command center to better mobilize troubleshooting and response in case any of its service facilities were affected by the typhoon.
Hence, employees and contractors were immediately deployed in the storm’s aftermath to re-activate 1,081 of SMART’s base stations that had experienced downtime either because they had been destroyed by the floods or lacked power supply.
Two days after ‘Ondoy’ unleashed its fury, SMART was able to restore some 811 or 75 percent of the base stations that had been affected.
Tropical storm Ondoy lashed the country Saturday causing severe flooding in several areas. The whole of Metro Manila and 25 Luzon provinces were placed under a state of calamity. SMART’s typhoon Ondoy relief operations is part of Kabalikat sa Kaligtasan, its disaster-response and emergency preparedness program and the ‘Community Care’ program of the Customer Care Experience Center. @
