Every time there is a developing event or threat of disaster, the entire Philippine nation has only one agency to call – the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

 

Eduardo del Rosario

Director IV, Acting Administrator, Office of Civil Defense/Executive Director

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC)

 

Retired Army general Eduardo del Rosario was appointed as Acting Administrator of the Office of Civil Defense and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, replacing Benito Ramos.

With already 4 months since assuming his post, del Rosario has exemplified grace under weathering conditions, more so now during the rainy season.  As early as January, del Rosario has already prepped his team and is said to be targeting zero casualty. According to him, the NDRRMC’s priority is three-fold — preparation, prevention and mitigation. The NDRRMC continues to scale up its efforts through the distribution of inflatable boats to several municipalities and national emergency response teams as part and parcel of their efforts to prepare for typhoons and floods.

 

For real-time updates on NDRRMC’s vision and mission, the NDRRMC facebook and twitter is regularly updated and can be viewed here.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/NDRRMC_Opcen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ocd.ndrrmc

 

 

Dr. Alfredo Mahar Francisco A. Lagmay

Professor, National Institute of Geological Sciences, University of the Philippines

Head, Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH), Department of Science and Technology (DOST)

 

Project NOAH takes us back to the beginning of time when Noah built an ark to save the world from man’s evil deeds. But today, this NOAH doesn’t need to build an ark to save Filipinos from the unforeseeable floods. As an offshoot to Tropical Storm “Ondoy” in September 2009, all Filipinos need to do is access the website to instantly receive warnings of floods.

 

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) pooled together a group of scientists from the University of the Philippines to develop a sophisticated weather monitoring system that was not available during Tropical Storm “Ondoy.”

 

The man responsible for it all is Dr. Alfredo Mahar Francisco A. Lagmay. His academic background spans years of hardwork and effort including post-graduate studies from the University of Cambridge and Stanford University. He has acted as a consultant for many MNC’s on disasters and published works, both locally and internationally, on many fronts. To this day, he remains a faculty member in his graduate University and continues to share his knowledge in volcanology and seismology. If you google his name, you will find numerous sources quoting him as a source, but to many he is the “Diliman Genius” who treats hazards of his job as “objects of wonder.”

 

As the Head of the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards, simply, Project NOAH, Dr. Lagmay has paved the way for weather forecasting to enter into the 21^st Century.

“NOAH’s mission is to undertake disaster science research and development, advance the use of cutting edge technologies and recommend innovative information services in government’s disaster prevention and mitigation efforts. Though the use of science and technology and in partnership with the academe and other stakeholders, the DOST through Program NOAH is taking a multi-disciplinary approach in developing systems, tools, and other technologies that could be operationalized by government to help prevent and mitigate disasters.”