MMDA to inaugurate state-of-the-art flood control info center

MANILA, Philippines–The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will inaugurate on Wednesday its newly created Flood Control Information Center (MMDA – FCIC), a nerve center for the agency’s flood control and disaster-related operations.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said the FCIC will comprehensively monitor flood-prone areas in Metro Manila and provide crucial information needed to make policy decisions in crisis situations.

The Center is equipped with 16 LCD monitors connected to over 70 closed-circuit televisions trained on key Metro Manila intersections, flood-prone areas and pumping stations.

The Center will tap PAG-ASA and other international satellite-based weather monitoring services and utilize an Incident Management and Map Navigation Software that will collate information on flood and other disaster-related incidents.

It has a floor map of Metro Manila and outlying waterways that will help trace communities that would be affected when water systems overflow.

“It’s a decision support system,” said Ramon Santiago, head of the MMDA-FCIC, “especially for emergencies. It collects all information regarding floods and operating systems, especially our pumping stations.  We’ll be able to draw in information from PAG-ASA and information in critical areas so we can plot incidents and what is the response that we have done, and what further measures we need to do.”

“The information generated at the Center will eventually be made available to the Metro Manila local government units and the public, to guide them on what to do during emergencies,” he added.

Expected to grace the 11 a.m. event are Undersecretary Benito Ramos of the Office of Civil Defense – National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, Undersecretary Graciano Yumul of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, and local government executives.