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MANILA, Philippines?Australia has come to the aid of the Philippines in upgrading its weather forecasting system with a P17-million grant to help the country better prepare for natural disasters.
The Tropical Cyclone Early Warning System, which will be used by Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), was developed with support from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.
Philippine officials led by Science and Technology Secretery Estrella Alabastro, National Disaster Coordinating Council executive office Glenn Rabonza, Pagasa administrator Dr. Prisco Nilo met with Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith and Australian Bureau of Meteorology representative Todd Smith for a briefing on the early warning system in Quezon City last week.
The system improves the tracking and accuracy of tropical cyclone forecasting, including position and intensity, and also enables verification of forecasts after the event.
?The loss of life and damage caused by recent typhoons, not just in the Philippines but also across Southeast Asia, is a tragic reminder of how prone our region is to natural disasters. As a regional neighbor and key development partner, Australia is helping improve the Philippines? preparedness to manage and respond to disasters and emergencies,? Smith said in a statement.
The ambassador vowed to continuously work with the Philippine government and with other donors and foreign and local organizations to ensure that warning systems are working effectively to save lives and property and to minimize disruption to the economy.
With the new technology, typhoon forecasting will now be enhanced and significantly support real-time forecasters, Pagasa said.
At present Pagasa uses various numerical weather prediction models to track tropical cyclones and forecast their intensity. These models are sometimes difficult to interpret, affecting the quality of forecast decisions and timeliness of warnings.
The enhanced system will help in better analyzing these different models to come up with a consensus and accurate forecast, as well as enhancing the mapping of storm signals. It will also help improve and enable a faster delivery of warnings through an automated delivery system for fax, e-mail, Internet, and SMS.
The Australian government has supported the Philippines on disaster-related activities including strengthening community-based disaster management and has provided approximately P230 million in humanitarian and emergency assistance in response to natural disasters in the country since 2006.
