Early flood warning system inaugurated today
Philippine officials and representatives from the Korean government will be inaugurating today a multi-million project on early flood warning system.
According to a statement from the Capitol’s information office, Sec. Estrella Alabastro of the Department of Science and Technology, Gov. Niel Tupas, Korean Ambassador to the country Choi Joong Kyung, Korean International Agency (KOICA) vice president Ahn Dong-Won, and KOICA resident representative to the DOST In Kim will lead today’s unveiling of a marker at the Automatic Weather Station in San Enrique town today afternoon.
Today’s inauguration of the P27-million-peso early flood warning system comes almost a year after Typhoon Frank swept through Panay June last year, dumping rains which swelled rivers, triggering widespread flash floods. Iloilo was among the provinces hardest hit by Frank. Local officials are still waiting for the Senate to pass the budget that would fund the rehabilitation of infrastructures destroyed or damaged by Frank.
The early warning system is part of a Korean-funded project to establish monitoring and early warning systems for disaster mitigation. It is a joint project of the KOICA, the DOST’s Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration.
Local officials hope that the warning system would mitigate the effects of a disaster.
At present, the flood forecasting and warning system in Iloilo is only manual through observation, and mainly community-based.
“The project will provide local planners and decision-makers with early warnings in the form of flood bulletins and warnings, climate outlook and advisories for planning and decision-making to mitigate the impact of such events,” the statement reads.
The entire package consists of an Automatic Weather Station, six rain gauges, two water level gauges, and support equipment such as computers, projectors, mobile phones, hydrographic survey equipment, and spare parts. A flood monitoring and operation system was also set up at the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council office.
Villages and communities living along the Jalaur River Basin in the central part of Iloilo will benefit from the warning system.