PHL imports InaSAFE technology for flood risk management

With the rainy season coming soon, Philippine disaster management officials are taking their cue from close neighbor Indonesia in using technology to consolidate weather data and assess potential natural threats to residents.

 

The Department of Science and Technology’s Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) said it is adopting Indonesia's open-source InaSAFE (Indonesia Scenario Assessment for Emergency) to do the job.

 

"NOAH adopted Indonesis’s InaSAFE as it has a lot in common with the Philippines, especially in topography and natural hazards ... With this technology, data coming from weather scientists, local government units and the communities are gathered and consolidated to provide accurate information on future disaster events," the DOST said.

 

Project NOAH head Dr. Alfredo Francisco Mahar Lagmay said InaSAFE will be integrated into Project NOAH to supplement existing technologies.

 

The DOST said the resulting technology aims to "mitigate, if not totally prevent" massive destruction caused by powerful cyclones.

 

“It is important to develop information tools that will help centralize risk information at the NOAH website and make them available to a wider community,” he said.

 

World Bank disaster and risk management officer Abigail Baca added InaSAFE was effective in minimizing the effects of recent floods in Jakarta, and the system can be applied in the Philippines.

 

Upgrading Project NOAH

 

Since it was launched in July 2012 in Marikina City, Project NOAH has been regularly upgraded with various weather forecasting equipment in disaster-prone areas.

 

These include the Hydromet water level sensors and Doppler radars used to measure amount of rainfall in a specific area.

 

Presently, there are 525 Hydromet sensors installed in river systems including those in Tullahan River, Marikina River and San Juan River in Metro Manila.

 

Also, Project NOAH put up billboards in Pampanga showing flood maps to inform residents of high-risk areas.

 

3D mapping

 

NOAHs DREAM LiDAR (Disaster Risk and Exposure Assessment for Mitigation-Light Detection and Ranging) project leader Enrico Paringit added that Since November 2012, they had conducted 3D mapping of the Pampanga river basin, Agno River, Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

 

"By the end of May this year, 3D mapping for Iloilo will be complete and next in line is the Panay river basin,” he said. — TJD, GMA News