The Philippines is one the countries in the world that is prone to various weather disturbances like typhoons. According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the primary reason for this is the geographical location of the Philippines which generally produce heavy rains and flooding of large areas and also strong winds which result in heavy casualties to human life and destructions to crops and properties. As a matter of fact, the country experiences, on average, 20 tropical cyclones each year with about 8 or 9 of them making landfall to various places in the Philippines.
Due to this, it is indeed obvious that the country repeatedly experiences constant flooding that causes great havoc to life and property. According to the Policy research working paper no. 9447 of the World Bank titled People in Harm’s Way: Flood Exposure and Poverty in 189 Countries, the Philippines ranks 8 among the countries with the most number of people exposed to significant flood risks. In 2020 alone, 27.7% of the country’s total population or around 29 million individuals were prone to flooding. That is why it is important for everyone to be aware of the different flood prone areas in the Philippines.
As such, Bria Homes will provide some of the avenues on how to know the different flood prone areas in the country to help you take the necessary precautions to mitigate its risks through websites and applications available and are helpful especially that the rainy season that started last May 18, 2022 – worsen by the La Niña that resulted in more precipitation than the average.
Read Also: Rainy Season Preparedness: Ways to Prevent Sickness | Through the Rain: Simple Tips to Keep your Home Clean and Dry this Rainy Season
Mapakalamidad.ph
Mapakalamidad.ph, a web-based platform that provides crowdsourced and up-to-date flood information, was officially launched on 10 September 2022. With the aim of helping Filipinos during calamities, specifically in times of high volume of rains, the web page locates and maps flooded areas during disasters.
Through the Mapakalamidad.ph, Filipinos now can have real-time information regarding the flooding situations and see the severely flooded communities, municipality, and even as specific as the barangay on the map available on the web-page. Being a crowdsourced web page, information is collected through various social media platforms. Based on the confirmed reports, flooded areas will appear in the map to help citizens and disaster units locate and identify the places that are in need of immediate disaster response. This web page is also helpful for motorists who need to assess the depth of the flood and if the situation requires them to look for alternate routes instead.
Mapakalamidad.ph has the color-coded flood warning features to easily assess the real-time flood depth in areas struck by typhoons or rains brought by monsoon winds. To the determine the flood depth, users can be guided by the following warnings:
- Red – greater than 150 cm
- Orange – 71-150 cm
- Yellow – 10-70 cm
Also, purple color signals that both the residents and passerbys must exercise caution.
The real-time flood situation sharing web page is developed by Yayasan Peta Bencana,an Indonesia-based platform that produces real-time disaster maps using both crowd-sourced reporting and government agency validations, and is part of the Office of Civil Defense’s PhilAWARE. PhilAWARE is also powered by Pacific Disaster Center’s (PDC) hazard monitoring and early warning system DisasterAWARE.
Since the web page utilizes social media platforms to gather information, the netizens take huge part in the success and accuracy of this crowdsourced platform. For Facebook users, they can report real-time flood information by messaging Mapakalamidad.ph with photos, location, and description of the situation. Meanwhile, Telegram users may report the flooding situation by submitting their reports by messaging /flood to @kalamidadbot.
Netizens from Twitter can also do their part in reporting flood information by tweeting the hashtag #flood to @mapakalamidad.
Project NOAH
In response to the call of the late President Benigno S. Aquino III for a more accurate, integrated, and responsive disaster prevention and mitigation system, especially in high-risk areas throughout the Philippines, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) launched in 2013 the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards or simply known as the Project NOAH. This technology driven management services for disaster risk reduction activities offered by the DOST, through its attached agencies namely PAGASA, PHIVOLCS, and the DOST-Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), in partnership with the UP National Institute of Geological Sciences and the UP College of Engineering
The Project has the following components:
- Distribution of Hydrometeorological Devices in hard-hit areas in the Philippines (Hydromet);
- Disaster Risk Exposure Assessment for Mitigation – Light Detection and Ranging (DREAM-LIDAR) Project;
- Enhancing Geohazards Mapping through LIDAR;
- Coastal Hazards and Storm Surge Assessment and Mitigation (CHASSAM);
- Local Development of Doppler Radar Systems (LaDDeRS);
- Landslide Sensors Development Project;
- Weather Hazard Information Project (WHIP); and
- Flood Information Network (FloodNET) Project
Similar to the Mapakalamidad web page, the last component of Project NOAH, the FloodNet aims to provide real-time and accurate information for flood early warning systems. Nonetheless, it is very unfortunate that the DOST-initiated Project NOAH was defunded in 2017 since, according to then DOST Secretary Dela Peña, the promises of the Project were accomplished already and now ready for various institutions like the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), PHILVOCs, and PAGASA to utilize and institutionalize.
Despite this, the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute was relaunched with what is known now as the UP NOAH Center and the Project NOAH webapp is still online via http://noah.up.edu.ph/.
PAGASA Flood Information
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) is the country pioneer agency that is mandated to provide flood and typhoon warnings, public weather forecasts and advisories, meteorological, astronomical, climatological, and other specialized information and services. The government agency was created on December 8, 1972 by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 78 reorganizing the Philippine Weather Bureau into PAGASA.
The PAGASA provides the accurate and real-time flood situation to 18 major river basins in the country and Metro Manila Flood Monitoring through its Flood Information section in their official website.
Further to the foregoing, the PAGASA also has developed flood forecast and warning bulletins systems to alert the public of the impending disaster. Especially during the times with high precipitations, PAGASA issues a warning regularly at specified hours of the day during the time of the flooding period until the flood subsides or when all hazards and dangers connected with flooding are no longer present. The prevailing hydrometeorological situation in a given river basin defines the operational environment under which flood forecasting and warning operations are carried out. Conveniently categorized into:
- Normal Situation
- Alert Phase
- Warning Phase
Flood-free locations for your dream home
Bria Homes offers affordable house and lot and condominium units located strategically and away from flood zone areas. As Bria Homes takes into account your sacrifices to have your own dream home, their developments are situated where risks and potential hazards are taken into account and well-considered.
Read Also: Flood Free Places to Live in Bulacan | Affordable House and Lot: What to look for in your future community? |
