JICA donates P500 M equipment to Pagasa for radars project

MANILA, Philippines – The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will soon dispatch experts to the country to conduct basic design studies to jumpstart the Japanese government’s Doppler radar project with the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

Pagasa director Prisco Nilo said the Doppler radars would be installed in Aparri, Cagayan; Virac, Catanduanes; and Guiuan, Eastern Samar, hopefully by next year.

Nilo said this would be the first time that the country would have the Doppler radar.

The radars were part of the P500-million grant of JICA to Pagasa.

Nilo said JICA has also funded the rehabilitation of Pagasa’s Flood Forecasting and Warning System in the Pampanga and Agno River Basins.

“The implementation of more than one project by JICA in one agency is quite a rare opportunity. We are grateful for the generosity of the Japanese government and for such high regard for Pagasa,” Nilo said.

The Doppler radars are capable of generating short-term but highly accurate weather forecasts.

Pagasa is planning to establish 10 Doppler radars nationwide by 2010.

Vicente Malano, chief of Pagasa’s field operations center, said the radar tracks cloud development and provides an estimate of the amount of rain that will fall.

Doppler refers to the principle the Austrian scientist Christian Doppler discovered in 1842. Doppler worked out his ideas using sound waves long before radio, much less radar, was invented.

The weather bureau is also planning to acquire the country’s first ever satellite forecasting system by 2010, in order to enhance the agency’s capability of forecasting weather disturbances that might cause massive devastation in the country and endanger Filipino lives.

Pagasa weather branch chief Nathaniel Cruz said the satellite costs P1 billion.

Pagasa has been repeatedly criticized for inaccurate weather forecasts, especially when destructive typhoons hit the country. – Helen  Flores