Some 20 members of the City Risk Reduction and Management Council, rescue volunteers and barangay officials are currently attending a three-day seminar on the proper use of an early warning system for flooding.
The activity is being sponsored by the German aid agency, GIZ, in cooperation with 7 Lakes Communications System, Inc.
Engr. Deo Mawis of 7 Lakes disclosed that GIZ had contracted them to install its early warning system in seven areas in the Philippines, namely, Dumaguete, Isabela, Oriental Mindoro, Albay, Sorsogon, Surigao del Sur and Surigao del Norte.
Mawis said their company will be providing the technology to these local government units to help them in the gathering of data and monitoring of rainfall and potential flooding.
The technology involves installation of rain gauge stations to measure rainfall and water level stations to measure the amount of water from the potential source of flooding especially in remote sites where these are run by solar power, Mawis added.
Mawis explained that the early warning system they are using is not reliant on cellular signal unlike that of the Department of Science and Technology, but utilizes instead two-way radio communication.
The training, which ends on Wednesday, includes the proper use, maintenance and trouble shooting of the early warning system and transmission of data via radio frequency from the rain gauge and water level stations to the city disaster and management command center.
The equipment was installed earlier at the JICA Bridge in Dumaguete and somewhere in Sagbang, Valencia to monitor the river waters and the amount of rainfall.
On Tuesday, the participants visited the remote sites for a hands-on training.
Meanwhile, Mawis said that despite the early warning system already in place, there are other responsibilities of the local government and other stakeholders that need to be fine tuned before they can be efficient in responding to flooding events.
These are just tools to effectively monitor flooding but the next phase after the training would be for the participants and others involved to effectively use the data being transmitted so that it becomes useful in disaster prevention, response and mitigation, he added. (PNA)
