Dr. Reinabelle Reyes and Dr. May Lim of the UP Diliman National Institute of Physics (UPD-CS NIP) presented their research on transport network efficiency at a House Committee on Visayas Development meeting last Feb. 6.
Together with independent researcher JC Albert Peralta, Reyes and Lim used a 300-year-old math discipline called network science to model transport network systems during relief operations. They applied their model to the Visayas transport network, where they discovered that Northern Samar is the most vulnerable to relief operation delays.
Their research opens novel ways for improving relief operations, and aids policymakers in decision-making and strategic planning. Attendees of the meeting included committee leaders and members of the Visayas region, including Committee Chair and 2nd District of Leyte Rep. Karen Lolita Javier, 3rd District of Negros Occidental Rep. Francisco “Kiko” Benitez, 3rd District of Leyte Rep. Anna Victoria Veloso-Tuazon, Committee Secretary Francisco “Sonny” Romuar III, and Committee Staff Atty. Cherry Pastor-Dalauiadao.
At the meeting, they discussed the need to decentralize and distribute resources such as food and key equipment to all congressional districts to mitigate delays in relief operations. They also emphasized the necessity of building transportation infrastructure in areas with no existing road networks.
“It was our first time at the House of Representatives and, though it was a bit intimidating at first, I believe in the end, we made the most of the opportunity given to us to share our work and learn from the perspectives of the House committee members, who are representatives and influential leaders for Visayas,” Reyes said of their experience.
“Doing scientific research is a very focused activity and involves discussion mostly among our small group of collaborators (and peer reviewers),” Reyes continued. “So having this opportunity to take the fruits of this work to the highest levels of leadership in the country is quite fulfilling at a different level.”
The team aims to continue working on their research, developing an open-source, user-friendly app that lets the public simulate different transport network systems.
Read more about their research here: https://science.upd.edu.ph/up-physicists-improve-phls-disaster-response-with-network-science/ (Story courtesy of Harvey Sapigao, UPD-CS Science Communications; photos by Philippine House of Representatives)