CE141/C1

De Guzman, Mhiera D.
2016
2013104518
Homework #3

Feb. 10,

Situated in a vast expanse of warm ocean water on the western rim of the
Pacific Ocean, surrounded by the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines is the most
exposed country in the world to tropical storms, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions and even storm surges. On average, eight or nine tropical storms make
landfall in the Philippines each year, with another 10 entering Philippine waters.
These resulted in a high number of fatalities with economic losses amounting to
billions of pesos. And because of this, the government implemented appropriate
measures to address such calamities.
Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards or Project NOAH is one of the
program of the DOST (Department of Science and Technology), together with
other participating agencies like PAG-ASA and PHIVOCS, for disaster prevention
and mitigation, specifically, for the Philippines warning agencies to be able to
provide a 6 hour lead-time warning to vulnerable communities against impending
floods and to use advanced technology to enhance current geo-hazard
vulnerability maps. Presently there are nine component projects under the NOAH
program. These component projects contributes in accomplishing the projects
mission which is to undertake disaster science research and development,
advance the use of cutting edge technologies and recommend innovative
information services in governments disaster prevention and mitigation efforts.
Upon using NOAH, you will encounter different types of maps. These maps have
different purposes, each of these maps are necessary for localized emergency
response, identification of evacuation and access routes, road closures during
disaster events, siting of key rescue facilities and comprehensive land use
planning. NOAH also offers reports from previous calamities such as 2015 flood
reports and census data. It also offers impact assessment tool, which estimates
the number of populations or establishments that will be affected if calamities will
hit a specific location.
Another program that the government made to response to such events is
PREDICT (Philippine Real-time Environmental Data Acquisition and Interpretation
for Climate-related Tragedy Prevention and Mitigation). PREDICT is a nationwide
system that is meant to complement the existing observation capability of
PAGASA. It consists of a network of Automated Weather Stations (AWS) that
gather and transmit observation data to a central server through the cellular
network. Upon entering the site, the user could choose what available location he
wants to know the weather of, and then pick whether he wants to view the
locations weather station, rain gauge or water level. Under the weather station
type, the user will see the locations wind direction, wind speed, temperature, air
humidity, air pressure, rain amount, and rain duration. This information registered
by AWS will serve as basis of local disaster risk reduction and management

councils on predicting flood and other ecological hazards.