Students tapped for disaster mitigation

MALOLOS CITY, Philippines — Privately run universities and public schools in Central Luzon have been tapped for disaster mitigation and adaptation, officials said.

Hilton Hernando, head of the Pampanga Riverbasin Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (PRFFWC), said that community and institutional involvement is one of the keys in disaster mitigation.

He said that PRFFWC has tapped Holy Angels University (HAU) based in Pampanga and Baliwag University in Bulacan.

PRFFWC is an attached agency of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), specifically tasked at monitoring rivers in the region and issue flood warnings.

He said that HAU students are now preparing a website where data on flooding in Central Luzon can be uploaded.

The said website is part of the PRFFWC program dubbed as Network of Flood Warning Systems (Netflows) which is aimed collating and sharing flood information from provinces of Central Luzon.

Hernando explained that while flood affects specific geographical location, it usually affect other adjoining areas, especially those that are in the downstream.

“In the case of Bulacan, they need information from Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Pampanga because flood waters from said provinces drain towards the coastal area of Bulacan and Pampanga,” he said.

He added that information gathers by PRFFWC are usually relayed to disaster risk reduction of concerned local government units that will be affected.

However, through Netflows website that is being prepared by students, Hernando said that more information will be available to residents who will be affected.

In the case of Baliwag University, Raul Agustin, a special operations officer of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO) of Bulacan said that students will help in gathering more information.

He said that the Bulacan PDRRMO has initiated the Schools Hydrological Information Network (Shine) project where students were taught and trained to read information gathered by installed rain gauges in schools.

 Agustin said that information on said rain gauges are transmitted to the PDRRMO operation center here.