PH, United Kingdom work on disaster risk reduction

THE PHILIPPINES is launching a program on natural disaster risk reduction with the help of the UK government.

“We are delighted to be working together with the Philippine government in developing an effective system that will help save lives and property,” Steph Lysaght, First Secretary at the British Embassy, said in a statement.

The LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) system is already making a difference in the UK and authorities are optimistic that this technology will make a genuine contribution to the Philippines’ efforts to decrease the risk from natural disasters, Lysaght said.

LIDAR is a technology that offers three-dimensional laser scanning and mapping. It has been widely used in the UK as part of flood risk assessment work and forestry management.

The British Embassy said the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the University of the Philippines (UP) formally launched on Friday the Nationwide Disaster Risk and Exposure for Mitigation (DREAM) Program in UP-Diliman.

The DREAM Program will support a forecasting and early warning system being set up by the government to address disaster events.

It is part of the DOST’s Project NOAH or Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards, touted as government’s high-technology response to flood disasters. Riza T. Olchondra