Philippines update. Saving Lives: Who needs FWEMSAR?

For a long time, it has been the conventional wisdom to expose skilled, highly trained and properly vetted personnel to extreme dangers - sometimes equal or greater than that which confronts counter-terrorist or counter-drug operations elements. Yet this is the job of Rescue, or more aptly as it is called, SAR - Search and Rescue.

We believe in the significance of SAR. However, for the benefit of both the party being rescued and the rescuer, we stand in our conviction that beyond post-disaster search and rescue or SAR during the incumbency of a disaster, it would be a positive addition to the design to introduce Forewarning and Early Measures.

The United States of America for example has the SAR Task Force.  Under the SARTF are units for instance such as the United States Air Force Para Rescue. Brazil's Ministry of Defense has Operation Rescue under the defense ministry's Subsidiary Actions. China Coast Guard - among others - undertake SAR operations within the bounds of the People's Republic of China. Taiwan has its own CMC Taiwan Rescue.

In the Philippines, in 1990-1991, the authors were requested to form a plan for the Reactivation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Forest Ranger Battalion. Together with the plan, also submitted were other proposals relevant to disaster response.

The reactivation of the Forest Ranger Battalion was not approved at the Department of National Defense. A good number of the proposals detailing the pressing need for modernization of defense assets, equipment and technologies, for making disaster and emergency response more effective and efficient were adopted as the department's position by then Secretary Fidel Valdez Ramos.

Repost - Forecasting

The Philippines:

Forecasting with confidence

Self-doubting prophecy

For nearly five years ago today, it was suggested to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) to enhance its satellite capability instead of simply getting hand-me-down issuances from UN OOSA (United Nations Outer Space Affairs and the NOAA (United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the other geospatial information and intelligence agencies all over the world.

At a certain point in time around the period of the occurrence of the devastation by tropical storm Ketsana (Ondoy) in the Philippines, the PAGASA was clamoring for the purchase and installation of its Doppler radar system, an outmoded and unreliable system for weather forecasting.

In 2010, all throughout the government circuit, the company of Mr. Philip King called AAA, went on a lecture-presentation effort to sell the sensing and image capture technology developed by a Malaysian scientist and technology specialist who was also engaged in a similar high technology, extensive venture for the government of Canada, among other countries.

Had the Department of Science and Technology considered using a network of sensing stations with clear-photo capture capability on a 1-camera-per-station (or possibly a cluster of cameras), weather forecasting in the country, aided with charity hand-outs from NOAA, UNOOSA, the European Union, among other satellite capable agencies, will definitely be more precise at the same time vivid and viewable in real time.

It was foreseen in this site that absolutely nothing will be allowed by Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) to block its path. As early as the morning of the raging of this typhoon that PAGASA decided to merely attribute the powerful rains and killer floods to monsoons, it was already the consensus among the advocates that started this site that many people will die by Ketsana (Ondoy). More > >

Forecasting with more confidence, issuing warning

By saner standards, in a span of less than two years, it is possible to modernize the PAGASA, PHIVOLCS of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the attached agencies of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that are now supposedly doing hazards mapping to increase their capacity to be able to tell the public with adequate confidence about the best course of action to take before another devastating calamity threatens their personal and loved ones' safety and avoid the tremendous loss of lives that recently happened with Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

The article below shows how the unconfident forecasting about the super typhoon may no longer be done in the future so as not to let a forecastable calamity unnecessary claim the precious lives of thousands of victims - Filipinos or foreigners alike. It is believed that the perhaps, one thing that could have saved the lives of many of the victims was trust. A solid trust in the forecasts and faith in the public warnings.

Helpless casualties

Before there could have been trust from the people, there should have been real certainty and conviction in the first place. That is what needs to be drummed into the people in our weather bureau and the earthquake sensing, among other forecasting agencies in the government. After all, with the money the taxpayers are paying to sustain them and give them enormous opportunities for self-growth through numerous continuing education benefits, foreign travels, among many other privileges the people in these agencies should be paying back the public with at least better and more sincere service.

Without the modernization, it is sad to issue the advance forecast, that we're all really dead.

Scheduled Visit to Zamboanga and Cebulindol-Boholindol Areas

We have scheduled a work-and-fun trip to Zamboanga City and then to Bohol and Cebu to gather actual data on the man-made and natural disasters that occurred in these places.

We will keep you posted on the results of our trip and our findings during these visits.

Here is hoping that we can elicit as much cooperation and kind assist from the locals in these areas. We believe that out of the data we can cull a good number of ideas that will be helpful in the organizing of the Disaster and Environmental Hazards Mapping conference we hope will push through this year or in the year 2014.

It is foreseen by the scientific community that any vestiges of major calamities may occur or be observed during the remaining months of 2013; the next year will be a definite lull and the next period to watch out vigilantly for any solar and earth movements with be 2015. Let us all hope that forecasts and predictions are merely that, forecasts and predictions.

That they will never have to happen at all.