by Mhars B.Lihgawon
LAGAWE, Ifugao, May 24 (PIA) - - People in this municipality can now be better prepared in times of calamities with the installation of an early warning device here.

An Automatic Weather Station (AWS) set up by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA) was formally launched May 20 to cater to the needs of the community especially farmers.

The establishment of the PAG-ASA AWS at the Ifugao State University (IFSU) Lagawe campus is a project under the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) funded by the Spanish government in coordination with the university administration.

According to Dr. Vicente Malano, PAG-ASA’s acting deputy administrator for Operations and Services, the AWS is a part of their goal to provide timely and accurate forecast warning to the people.

“The MDG project has set up a series of AWS in four project sites namely Lagawe, Albay, Sorsogon, and Butuan to provide a platform for real-time data communication to the PAG-ASA forecast centers.

Malano said that real-time data transmission of precipitation and other weather parameters are required in order to produce timely and accurate flood warning and advisories.

He also disclosed that the installation of AWS in the project sites are now part of PAG-ASA’s existing network of around 40 AWS all over the country.

With the automatic weather stations, Malano hopes that the capacity of the different local government units (LGUs) in disaster procedures would be enhanced since data gathered can be accord in real-time via internet.
Meanwhile, Dr. Camilo Pimentel, IFSU vice-president for administration and finance, thanked the government particularly PAG-ASA for selecting their university as one of the sites of the AWS.

“We are very fortunate to have this very important gadget that would help not only IFSU but also the community especially the farmers,” Pimentel said. *(JDP/MBL-PIA CAR,Ifugao)