Written by Allen Atienza
Visuals by Jayvee Fulgencio
Short Message Service (SMS) messages are supposedly one of the most old of the common ways of communication. It is a text message limited to 160 characters. Even though the advancement of technologies seem to undermine the minimalistic design of the SMS, it never seemed to phase out in the Philippines. Why? What made it so important that it becomes a key component of Filipino history? The answer to both these questions are safety and culture.
The accessibility of SMS messages requires only a cellular signal and a cellphone with batteries and mobile load, as opposed to WiFi-based internet broadbands which require electricity to connect to a modem or router. Although there is an exception of mobile data (internet that uses load on SIM cards), there are moments that a wide enough power outage can disable nearby cellular towers. This handicaps mobile data since it is forced to try to get data from farther cellular towers (thus decreasing reception). However, SMS messages do not need a lot of reception in order to send one message.
According to Bryce Norwood, a Board Administrator of Now.sms, as long as the characters used in the text messages are included in the standards of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), SMS use only up to 140 bytes worth of data (maximum). What this means is that it does not need that much data to send one message. Compared to other messaging mediums such as Facebook Messenger, Viber, Skype, etc. SMS messages were one of the systems that we could actually rely on during disasters.
Due to the Republic Act No. 10639, or the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, we get alerts from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) through text messages. This requires the NDRRMC and telecommunications companies such as Globe and Smart to send free mobile text alerts before disasters happen. NDRRMC alerts sent through our phones were one of the most significant factors that helped us during recent typhoons such as Rolly and Ulysses.
Although there are systems in place such as the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act, damage and loss are still to be expected. Information on possible dangers does not give us complete immunity or even evasion to the disaster itself. We can expect a storm to come, but it does not make us invincible.
This is where response and recovery comes in. Both of these are crucial processes in the aftermath of a disaster or even an emergency. In modern times, we are familiar with “donation drives” whereas they are a collection of clothes, relief goods, money, etc. sent to those who need it most during the disaster. As such, we create systems in order to keep track and organize donations. Normally, donation drives were completely hands-on, but the recent lockdowns have limited volunteer based work (such as physical labour/services).
Fortunately, SMS messaging is a system that we could rely on not only on rescue response but also on disaster recovery. We were able to organize the donation drives and create groups that were focused on helping our more unfortunate countrymen. University of Santo Tomas (UST) Engineering organizations, such as the Engineering Student Council (ESC), was able to create donation drives by sending a text brigade, a wave of text messages sent to students whose towns and cities were heavily affected. By sorting out and responding to the response and feedback of the text messages, UST-ESC was able to successfully execute their donation drives.
As much as we use it mostly for urgency,, SMS, as its core, has already become a part of our lives. It has made its way to Filipino culture and our daily lives. We could spend a peso at most for sending one message, or even 30 pesos for unlimited texts for five days. Truly, it is a “sulit tipid” way to connect to our friends and loved ones.
SMS messaging is a service that is heavily utilized during emergencies. Filipinos use it as a source of casual communication, we cannot deny its reliability in disaster preparation, response, and recovery. Will it ever phase out? It doesn’t seem possible in the near, or even far future.
References:
Ellsworth, J. (2020, April 30). Why Text Message Alerts Are More Important Than Ever (And Not Just for Millennials). Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://blastpoint.co/blog/why-text-message-alerts-are-more-important-than-ever-and-not-just-for-millennials/
Tomacruz, S. (2018, July 24). How NDRRMC issues its emergency mobile warnings. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://www.rappler.com/moveph/how-ndrrmc-issues-emergency-warnings-mobile-alerts
What is the actual size for a sms? (2012, October). Retrieved January 23, 2021, from https://support.nowsms.com/discus/messages/1/5249.html
