‘Mining firm’s data can help prevent disasters’

MANILA, Philippines - An expert on water resources engineering and management and applications in hydrological environments and climate conditions said the baseline data gathered by mining company Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) for its environmental impact assessment can be used by local government units for their disaster prevention strategies in their communities.

“A five-year rainfall pattern can be very useful in flood control and in preventing disasters due to weather disturbances,” Roy Soriano said.

Soriano also cited the rainfall pattern data gathered by a large agro-industrial multinational firm in South Cotabato as “key sources for disaster prevention strategies.”

“Local government units in South Cotabato can actually work with these companies and request for existing data,” he said.

Soriano was previously involved in a project assessing historical floods, water use patterns, rainfall analysis and runoff modeling for the Tumaga River Basin in Zamboanga, the Lipadas River Basin in Davao del Sur, and the Silway-Popong-Sinsual watershed in South Cotabato.

“The government needs help from the private sector in collecting data necessary for disaster prevention and management,” Soriano said.

“The government has a weather station in General Santos City and one in Davao but in the areas in between there are no weather stations to collect important data,” he added.

Soriano said the automatic weather stations (AWS) put in place by SMI “are very effective and strategic sources of weather data and key in managing disasters.”

SMI has six AWS strategically installed, one in General Santos City and five across its project area in South Cotabato and Davao del Sur, he said.