LEGAZPI CITY---Disaster management officials in the calamity-prone Bicol region
are pinning high hopes that the Doppler radar expected to become operational in
August this year would help a lot in coming out with an improved forecast of the
different weather disturbances frequently hitting the place.
Landrico Dalida Jr, Bicol chief weather forecaster of the Philippine Atmospheric
Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said that the
Doppler radar system being constructed in Virac and Bato towns in Canduanes is
expected to start this August.
Once fully-functional, Landrico said this Doppler radar has the capacity to
determine the specific volume of water that a typhoon or rain clouds contain
before they could touch the ground.
“This Doppler radar could also tell the direction and the time the rain clouds
will fall,” Dalida explained.
Dalida admitted that Pagasa’s present forecasting system is short of capability
to determine the volume of suspended water in typhoons and other weather
systems, such as low pressure areas (LPAs), tailend of the cold front (TECF),
and the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ).
He said that their present weather forecast could only tell the strength,
velocity, and direction of typhoons, but could not tell how much water they
contain, data needed to predict possible floodings.
The Doppler radar in Catanduanes is one of the three radars constructed in the
Philippines out of some P400-million grant from Japan International Cooperation
Agency (JICA). The two others are in Samar and Quezon areas.
Raffy Alejandro, Bicol director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), expressed
optimism that with the added data to be provided by this radar, casualties and
damage to properties could be avoided.
“It is important that we could determine possibility of floodings and landslides
before rain clouds are dampened in an area to avoid casualties,” Alejandro said.
Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said that pre-emptive evacuations being implemented in
the province during calamities could be minimized, if not totally avoided, once
this Doppler radar turns operational.
“We anticipate a more accurate forecast with this Doppler radar providing
important data out of an expected weather disturbance. With this, our zero
casualty goal during calamities would be further strengthened,” Salceda, who was
one of those who negotiated with JICA for the forecasting system, said.
Albay’s pre-emptive evacuation scheme to attain the zero casualty goal has
gained the province the Kalasag Awards as best Provincial Disaster Coordinating
Council (PDCC) in 2008 and 2009, and being recognized by the United Nations (UN)
as world model campaigner for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change
adaptation (CCA). (cet dematera)
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