Bidding on for radar for PAGASA-Cebu

The bidding for the P80 million Doppler Radar installation project for PAGASA in Mactan, Cebu is now going on in the agency’s central office in Manila.

PAGASA regional director Oscar Tabada said that President Gloria Arroyo had directed this project be given priority, and that soil tests have been conducted already in some parts of the mountains in Cebu to determine the most feasible location for the Doppler Radar.

The project was supposed to be implemented already, by this time, had the funds were not diverted to help flood, drought and typhoon striken areas last year, said Tabada.

This year, however, the project snags were ironed out and have to be realized now because modern equipment for weather forecast in the Visayas is needed to stop being blamed always for somewhat inaccurate reading or monitoring of weather disturbances.

President Arroyo had ordered that, aside from Cebu, an allocation of P150 million for a similar project shall be made for Subic and Tagaytay areas, and two more in South Cotabato and Surigao del Sur.  Doppler radar is a key-forecasting tool developed in 1842, following the principle of Austrian scientist Christian Doppler.

The radar works by sending out radio waves from an antenna. Objects in the air, such as raindrops, snow crystals, hailstones or even insects and dust, scatter or reflect some of the radio waves back to the antenna.

All weather radars, including Doppler, electronically convert the reflected radio waves into pictures showing the location and intensity of precipitation.

A computer connected to the Doppler uses the frequency changes to show directions and speeds of the winds blowing around the raindrops, birds and even insects and other objects that reflected the radio waves.

Chief Supt. Ronald Roderos, chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council, cited the benefits of this modern technology by saying that when its installed, the PAGASA in Mactan will no longer be a mere monitoring station but a forecasting agency.

The radar can give accurate and reliable data on the weather condition not only from Visayas but also in Mindanao, said Roderos.

Roderos, who is also the Police Regional Office-7 director, said that some of the plans for RDCC, announced during the briefing with the president is the typhoon preparedness and disaster management, will be to make the RDCC a pro-active organization rather than reactive by making the first initiatives for preparedness.

When a typhoon is being detected even if it is only signal number one, the RDCC will automatically, through its operation disaster center, convene at the PRO-7, and the DILG will also convene all local disaster coordinating councils from the provincial level down to the barangay.

All barangay captains will be deputized as barangay civil defense officer and will be given authority to check on the equipment of all seacrafts in his or her jurisdiction, and see whether they are complying with safety rules or not.  — Ferliza C. Contratista and (Edwin Ian Melecio/RAE