PAGASA has long been infamous for unreliable weather forecasting and yet, we keep looking to the agency for weather news. Fortunately, we now have other better and more reliable options, like Accuweather, NOAA, JMA, JTWC, and Typhoon2000.ph. But, these are options that only private citizens seem to use, while our government continues to put its trust in PAGASA.
I really do appreciate the fact that PAGASA does try. It seems to be one of the few government agencies that knows how to use social media tools to communicate with the public, albeit it doesn't really always respond to inquiries. You can see, though, that they try to address FAQs. However, I don't think it's wise for PAGASA to be telling the public unverified info such as "3-4 storms are coming this month" when there is no way for the agency to guarantee that it will indeed happen. We should know by now that nature can be understood but not tamed. It has behavior patterns but these can change anytime.
We already know that the Philippines is typhoon country. So, PAGASA, instead of scaring the public into disaster preparedness with forecasts that may well change within a week, how about working harder at being reliable, timely, and accurate as early as 48 hours before a possible storm enters PAR? Also, DOST, how about working more closely with LGUs towards better disaster preparedness? There is so much still to improve when it comes to flood mapping, flood management, waste management, dam control, etc.
We all keep saying, we don't want another Ondoy. But, the truth is, Ondoy is not the first of its kind to hit the Philippines. I'd rather learn about what is actually being done to prepare us for the next storm, instead of being told that another one is coming. I'd rather know that we are ready to deal with any storm that's coming, instead of just dealing with the consequences each time it arrives.
I really do appreciate the fact that PAGASA does try. It seems to be one of the few government agencies that knows how to use social media tools to communicate with the public, albeit it doesn't really always respond to inquiries. You can see, though, that they try to address FAQs. However, I don't think it's wise for PAGASA to be telling the public unverified info such as "3-4 storms are coming this month" when there is no way for the agency to guarantee that it will indeed happen. We should know by now that nature can be understood but not tamed. It has behavior patterns but these can change anytime.
We already know that the Philippines is typhoon country. So, PAGASA, instead of scaring the public into disaster preparedness with forecasts that may well change within a week, how about working harder at being reliable, timely, and accurate as early as 48 hours before a possible storm enters PAR? Also, DOST, how about working more closely with LGUs towards better disaster preparedness? There is so much still to improve when it comes to flood mapping, flood management, waste management, dam control, etc.
We all keep saying, we don't want another Ondoy. But, the truth is, Ondoy is not the first of its kind to hit the Philippines. I'd rather learn about what is actually being done to prepare us for the next storm, instead of being told that another one is coming. I'd rather know that we are ready to deal with any storm that's coming, instead of just dealing with the consequences each time it arrives.
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