SMART helps flood-prone cities prepare for rainy season
With the lessons of Ondoy hardly forgotten, concerned residents of Marikina and
Rizal are ensuring that their flood-prone municipalities will be ready for the rains
this time around.
Volunteer teachers and students from 11 public schools in Marikina City and the
Rizal towns of Rodriguez and San Mateo have enlisted for Project Rain Gauge of Smart
Communications, Inc. (SMART) to observe and record rainfall using rain gauges installed
within their campuses.
A whole-day workshop on rainfall monitoring held at the Sta. Elena High School in
Marikina was conducted by weather specialists from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical
and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to prepare the participants.
They learned about the weather systems that cause rain, the procedure and frequency
of observing and recording rainfall, plus the application of rainfall measurement.
Through a demonstration, they were also oriented on how to install and operate rain
gauges.
The 44 trainees represented four schools in Marikina -- Barangka Elementary School,
Concepcion Integrated School, Sto. Niño Elementary School, and SSS Village Elementary
School; another four in Rodriguez, Rizal – San Jose Elementary School, San Rafael
Elementary School, Amityville Elementary School, and Burgos National High School;
and three from San Mateo, Rizal -- Banaba Elementary School, Malanday Elementary
School, and Justice Vicente Santiago Elementary School.
The initiative to involve local government units and communities in disaster preparedness,
especially those in high-risk areas, is part of efforts spearheaded by the Philippine
Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF) to strengthen the country’s capacity for disaster
risk reduction and management via an effective early warning system.
An early warning system can make the difference in terms of lives saved in the event
of a heavy downpour or high volume of rainfall that can bring about flashfloods
and cause landslides. Its importance was underscored during the recent onslaught
of typhoon Basyang that left most of Metro Manila on a standstill the morning after.
Last year, three typhoons – Ondoy, Pepeng and Frank ravaged the country leaving
1,000 people dead and 1.7 million needing aid, according to estimates by the United
Nations. Destroyed were more than 40,000 houses, mostly in Luzon.
Among those most affected during ‘Ondoy’ were Marikina and Rizal as well as the
flood-prone areas of Antipolo and Taytay which also recently sent a delegation to
train for Project Rain Gauge.
Project Rain Gauge was launched by SMART under its flagship educational program
to create a network of schools nationwide that can provide PAGASA with additional
data on local rainfall measurement in their areas.
It is now being expanded beyond public school members of the telco’s Smart Schools
Program (SSP) to include barangays and non-SSP schools in flood-prone areas. This
is in line with the objective of developing Project Rain Gauge as a vital source
of information that may be utilized by agencies like PAGASA to complement the establishment
of a community-based early warning system.
(Published 23 July 2010, Smart Communications Inc.)
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