BY: RIZALIE A. CALIBO
SIQUIJOR, Aug 18 (PIA) -- Siquijor province will soon have Doppler Radar, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).
PAGASA administrator Vicente Malano said the radar will be installed anytime soon after the actual inspection and series of ocular site visits. He visited Siquijor recently to inspect the site where the radar will be installed.
In an interview with the PIA-Siquijor during the recent Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management summit here, Malano said Siquijor is prioritized because aside from it having no station, it will complement Cebu City’s Doppler radar and to serve as backup during fortuitous events.
PAGASA-Visayas director and chief meteorologist Oscar Tabada in an earlier report said the major breakthrough in weather forecasting is attributed to the installation of at least 15 Doppler radars in the country costing some P100 million each.
He said there is already a budget for another Doppler radar that will be intended for Siquijor. This will be the 3rd radar in the Visayas region that can also monitor the weather systems affecting Northern Mindanao.
Tabada said the Siquijor provincial government has been supportive of this plan, and that the Siquijodnons embraced the idea of another radar in the province to help in forecasting weather to be able to prepare for possible disasters.
Tabada, was also in Siquijor on August 24-25 as one of the resource speakers during the disaster risk reduction and management (DRRM) summit at Salagdoong, Maria, Siquijor.
The proposed radar according to Tabada is a specialized one that makes use of the Doppler effect to produce velocity data about objects at a distance.
The Doppler effect is an increase or decrease in the frequency of sound, light or other waves as the source and observer move toward or away from each other, he explained.
Having a Doppler Radar in Siquijor is good, said Tabada, "because this can cover the Visayas and parts of Mindanao. So if the ones in Cebu or Mindanao becomes unusable, PAGASA can still get data from the Doppler in Siquijor radar," Tabada said.
He said that with the Doppler radars, PAG-ASA has been issuing timely weather forecasts with accuracy.
He noted that based on the feedback from the local-chief-executives and disaster management officials of the towns and cities across the region, all the forecasts of incoming rain showers, storms, cyclones and gale warning issued hours earlier for specific areas have been proven correct on the ground.
According to him, the Philippines is being visited by an average of 20 typhoons every year.
The country, according to the experts, is situated below the equator which makes it a tropic that is prone to strong cyclones, and is in fact within the ring of fire, a string of volcanoes which on a daily basis produce eruptions felt or unfelt, Tabada said. (mbcn/RAC/PIA7-Siquijor)