Aquino to Pagasa: Simplify weather reports

President Benigno Aquino on Thursday said he wanted the weather bureau and disaster response agencies to use layman’s terms when giving periodic updates during inclement weather.

In an interview with Palace reporters, the President said he had asked the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), which has jurisdiction over the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), and the Malacañang Communications Group to come up with simpler ways of explaining the weather.

In particular, he wanted the government to better explain not just the effects of storm signals, but also rainfall levels.

He noted that although the people had a “clear understanding” of the impacts of storm signals, “when it comes to rainfall, the effects of heavy, moderate or light rainfall are not that clear.”

“So they must develop better communication skills to explain to the people [the heavy downpour] that occurred the other day—7 to 10 millimeters of rain; The 7.5 millimeters [of rain] is considered heavy,” said Mr. Aquino.

However, he pointed out that there had been heavy rainfall before that, referring to the rains brought by Typhoon “Gener.”

He wondered whether the low pressure area “surge,” high tide and southwest monsoon (habagat) “enhanced” the ferocity of Gener and accounted for the unexpected heavy rains that flooded low-lying parts of the metropolis and other nearby provinces.

“So we must have an efficient transmission of information,” said Mr. Aquino, noting that the hourly weather bulletins of Pagasa appeared “thorough, but the problem is that there are pieces of information that are not really relevant.”

He cited terms such as “relative humidity” and “luminosity of the moon” which could only complicate things.

He also asked the public works department to make a thorough assessment of flood-prone areas and look into the possibility of adding to the seawalls at Manila Bay.

Mr. Aquino also said the sewage system of the National Capital Region was not interconnected.

Only Manila and parts of Makati have sewage systems, he said. Mike Ubac