Students to help monitor rainfall throughout the country

Friday, 25 March 2011 07:08

Several schools will participate in the rainfall monitoring program of the government and private groups which will be used to determine the volume of water that could cause flooding and landslides in the country.
Rep. Angelo Palmones (Party-list, Agham) said rainfall monitoring would be a great help to the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical, Astronomical and Seismological Administration (PAGASA) at determining the volume of water of a typhoon that could hit some critical and thickly populated areas.

Palmones, Vice-Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology, said a memorandum of agreement was signed between Smart Communications, PAGASA, the Typhoon Committee Foundation, Inc., (TCFI), Department of Education (DepEd) and the Manila Observatory's KLIMA Climate Change Center in launching the "Project Rain Gauge" to be participated in by several schools.

Darwin Flores, senior manager for community partnership of Smart Communications, said Project Rain Gauge will spark awareness among students in the study of earth science by building online meteorological data provided by a network of schools that monitor, record and report rainfall data in parts of the country.

Palmones said some 68 public schools in some provinces, which are considered as critical areas, and regular typhoon paths will participate in the program.

"It started only as a science project for 17 schools but was later expanded to other areas. Students living in landslide and flood prone areas showed special interest in the project," Palmones said.

Palmones said the purpose of measuring rainfall is to observe and record the volume of water in a specific area. "This data will be sent to a website created by Smart Communications. PAGASA and other interested agencies can use the data in their monitoring and forecasting activity," Palmones said.

Palmones said workshop and exercises on rain gauge reading and data collection and recording will be conducted. "The rain gauges are appropriate for a variety of applications, including storm water runoff monitoring, rainfall monitoring studies and soil moisture studies," he said.

According to Palmones, resource persons from the Manila Observatory, KLIMA and PAGASA will share their expertise on various related topics, which include climate change, rainfall monitoring uses and methods, climate modeling and forecasting, rain gauge monitoring protocol, the importance of local weather monitoring and disaster risk management.

Palmones urged other lawmakers to join the program by donating rain gauge to public schools in their respective districts.

Palmones said the Rain Watchers Award to be sponsored by Smart Communications, PAGASA and TCFI will be given to schools that will win the best blog sites on rainfall monitoring for this year.

The best entry per region will vie for the top three spots, which will be announced during the awarding ceremony scheduled this November.

Regional winners will receive a medal from the team and a laptop for the school. The top three winners will receive cash prizes of as much as P25, 000.00, wireless connectivity devices like mobile phones and Smart Bro prepaid plug-it units and the honor of being the best and the most creative and consistent in terms in collecting and reporting rainfall data. Their school will receive desktop computers and Smart Bro plug-it unit.

The Monkayo National High School in Monkayo, Compostela Valley recently won the top prize in the First Rain Watchers Awards. Second and third place went to San Miguel National High School (SMNHS) in Bulacan and Aurora National Science High School (ANSHS) in Baler, Aurora respectively.

Monkayo forms part of the upper Agusan River Basin and is prone to floods caused by the overflowing of heavily silted rivers. The town is also situated near Mt. Diwalwal, whose rich gold vein deposits have attracted unregulated and destructive mining methods that have caused landslides and cave-ins.