Thursday, November 22, 2007 Cebu City wants its own weather tracker
THE Cebu City Government will come up with its own weather tracking system that relies on the Internet for updates.
However, it is only for the City Hall to come up with recommendations as soon as possible on whether classes and work should be suspended when there is a coming storm.
The system is only for storm and typhoon tracking and does not provide other information like sunrise and sunset time that comes with the usual Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pag-asa) weather bulletins, said City Councilor Sylvan Jakosalem.
The weather agency was widely criticized in the wake of tropical storm Lando because there was no proper warning that it accelerated and would hit Cebu earlier than expected.
“Because of the many reasons and excuses Pag-asa brought up regarding what happened, we are constrained to form our own…storm tracking and warning system initially to be based on Internet data and satellite images,” Jakosalem said.
“Maybe later we can buy equipment for local weather forecasting. Many websites already show raw data and offer interpreted meteorological data for the public,” he said.
“But it will be for the City Government, the CCDC (Cebu City Disaster Coordinating Council), and DepEd’s (Department of Education) consumption only, so as not to confuse the public,” Jakosalem further said.
He and fellow City Councilor Roberto Cabarrubias, who is more familiar with information technology applications than most city legislators, will set up the system.
Yesterday, Jakosalem accessed the Joint Typhoon Warning Center of the US Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and printed a projected path of tropical storm Mina, which is expected to make landfall in Luzon tomorrow.
He said that since the data provided on wind speed is measured in knots, he still had to make computations, and came up with a 75 to 95 kilometers per hour wind strength.
Consultant
“For the storm tracking and weather-related concerns, we might be hiring a consultant for science and technology who will head it because Pag-asa is under the DOST (Department of Science and Technology). We might even hire someone from Pag-asa for it or (somebody) formerly from Pag-asa. Or, (we) tap the academe,” the councilor said.
Also, the City Council committee on energy chairman said that the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) has identified 40 billboards that threaten power lines.
Of the number, five were among those that fell on either the 23-kilovolt or 69-kilovolt high tension cables when Lando swept across Cebu last Monday.
Jakosalem said that while the Veco did not recommend that all the billboards should be dismantled, the utility firm suggested that design changes should be made.
It was likewise agreed in yesterday’s City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) board meeting that traffic enforcers’ personal cellular numbers should be incorporated in the City Government’s mobile alarm system.
This way, the enforcers could be immediately notified for swift response every time traffic signals bog down, particularly when there are calamities.
One reason it took Veco a long time to restore electricity in some areas is that personnel and vehicles were hampered by snarled traffic. (RHM)
