LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- In a bid to boost weather forecasting capability in storm-prone Bicol, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) relaunched one of the country's four P18-million upper-air receiving equipment in Albay Friday morning.

DOST Secretary Estrella Alabastro said the equipment will allow for accurate forecasting, especially in extreme weather conditions such as typhoons.

The Bicol peninsula is within the country's typhoon belt with Catanduanes province, which faces the Pacific Ocean in the east, as a storm gateway.

Prisco Nilo, national director of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the new facility will complement data gathered by the radars and satellites.

He said the country's existing 58 synoptic stations or local weather forecasting facilities only gather ground level information while radars and satellites only get limited information.

"We also need data on what's going on in the upper levels of the atmosphere," Nilo said.

He added that since the device helps gather data on the wind's speed, it is helpful in forecasting the direction of ashfall during volcanic eruptions as in the case of Mt. Mayon in Albay, which last erupted in the third quarter of 2006.

The transmitter of the upper air receiving equipment is a small device attached to a big balloon, which will be launched into the air daily to gather real-time information from an altitude of up to 12 kilometers high.

At least one transmitter will be launched everyday and four during typhoons at a cost of P30,000 per launch.

Alabastro said the upper-air transmitter gathers data on relative humidity, wind intensity and velocity, temperature, pressure, and other parameters necessary in detecting weather disturbances.

The data gathered is then immediately sent to a computer system in the local and central weather stations.

The ceremonial launching was graced by Albay Governor Joey Salceda, who thanked the DOST for the investment.

He said it will help mitigate disasters in Albay, which was badly hit by supertyphoon Reming in 2006.

Risk reduction, however, would still depend on decisions and actions taken by the government like preemptive evacuation to attain zero casualty, he added.

He said that since the facility would make data transmission faster and more accurate, disaster officials could come up with better decisions.

Salceda said the new device is also beneficial to the farming sector.

"Our farmers would know what to plant and when since they could be informed of weather conditions and forecasts. Agriculture is the country's engine of growth," he said.

Salceda, who is one of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s economic advisers, recommended that the national government increase the DOST budget, even if it was doubled for 2008.

Alabastro said the agency's 2007 P3.6-billion budget was raised to P5.3 billion this year.

In November last year, typhoon Mina prompted disaster officials to order the "preemptive evacuation" of close to a million residents in Albay and Camarines Sur.

Other upper-air receiving stations are in Laoag, Cebu, and Tanay, Rizal.