Public school students to monitor rainfall

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) and Smart Communications have launched the “Rain Watchers Awards” that aims to encourage school children to get involved in rainfall monitoring activities. 

Pagasa said three winners will be selected from the 68 public elementary and high schools nationwide that are participating in Smart’s Project Rain Gauge. 

Pagasa said schools will be judged according to their ability to collect, read and report rainfall data (55 points), raise awareness about the importance of rainfall monitoring in their respective schools (30 points) and form partnerships to sustain interest in and support for the initiative within their community (15 points). 

Typhoon Committee Foundation, Inc. (TCFI) chairman and Agham  party-list  Rep. Angelo Palmones said the rainfall data collected by the students will augment the data gathered by Pagasa, thus strengthening the agency’s capacity to determine rainfall patterns necessary to describe local climate. 

It also helps the agency come up with more accurate weather reporting and forecasting in local communities, Palmones added.  

“We support this effort to recognize public schools that have consistently and conscientiously monitored rainfall because we hope that the data will eventually augment that gathered by Pagasa, strengthening the agency’s capacity to determine fine-scale rainfall patterns necessary to describe local climate and come up with more accurate weather reporting and forecasting in local communities,” Palmones said.

He said the devastation brought by tropical storm “Ondoy” which hit Metro Manila and surrounding areas in September last year underscored the need to modernize the country’s weather forecasting system, specifically rainfall monitoring. Pagasa had said they don’t have the equipment to measure specific amount of rainfall. 

“We hope that with the contribution of rain watchers, we can help build data that will form the basis for early warning systems in flood-prone communities,” he said.

Pagasa said cash prize of P25,000, wireless connectivity devices like mobile phones and Smart Bro prepaid plug-in units await the public schools that will be recognized as the most creative and consistent in terms of collecting and reporting rainfall data. 

Since 2007, public schools in flood-prone areas have been maintaining rain gauges provided by Smart within their campuses. 

Project Rain Gauge is envisioned to eventually create a network of supplementary ground stations across the country to provide additional data on local rainfall measurement in specific areas for a more effective and accurate local weather monitoring, Pagasa said. 

Participants are trained to regularly monitor and record rainfall data, which they send to a website (www.projectraingauge.ph) hosted and maintained by Smart. 

In September 2009, Smart enhanced the reporting system by introducing a mobile application that enabled Project Rain Gauge participants to use their Smart or Talk ‘N Text cell phones to send rainfall data via SMS free of charge.  

There are now 68 public schools participating in the project, with the latest members coming from barangays in the municipalities of San Mateo and Rodriguez in Rizal, and in the cities of Antipolo and Marikina.

To join the first Rain Watchers Awards, interested Project Rain Gauge participants can download the official entry form from the project website, which also contains the mechanics and other details of the competition. Deadline for submission of entries is Oct. 22, 2010.