DOST tests landslide monitoring system in Benguet

For a tropical country that is frequently visited by typhoons and other disasters, an effective alert system for warning the public of upcoming landslides is a Godsend —especially mountainous provinces like Benguet.

 

Benguet has been identified as the most landslide-prone province in the country, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). This may also be the reason why the government decided to test its new landslide monitoring system in parts of Benguet.

 

Entirely Filipino-developed

 

This July, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman started field-testing of the landslide monitoring system —developed entirely by Filipino scientists— in key landslide-prone areas in the province.

  

A team of engineers and researchers of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute of UP Diliman developed the monitoring system. The system aims to monitor slopes accurately, and cost-effectively through a series of sensors that measures the slope movements and soil moisture.

 

Together with the landslide monitoring system, Bantog also said that the DOST installed manual and automatic rain gauges in each of the province in the Cordillera Region, and in Baguio City. Two automated weather stations were also installed in the region.

 

Project NOAH: Nationwide flood monitoring

 

The field-testing is in line with Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards), said Nancy Bantog, assistant regional director of DOST-Cordillera.

 

Project NOAH is the response of DOST to President Benigno S. Aquino III’s call for DOST to come up with “more accurate, reliable and responsive weather forecasting and hazard mitigation.”

 

Bantog also said, “Aside from mitigating the hazards pertaining to weather, the ultimate goal is to have six-hour lead time warning, especially to communities affected by the major river systems.”

 

In President Aquino’s recent State of the Nation Address, the government will put up 600 automatic rain gauges and 422 water level monitoring sensors all over the country by 2013, in line with Project NOAH.

 

Project NOAH is also tied-up to various state universities and colleges for development of research and further studies, according to Bantog. — TJD, GMA News