Pres. Aquino tells PIA Weather Watch, 'good job'

By Jerome Carlo Paunan

LEGAZPI CITY, Nov. 27 (PIA) -- President Benigno S. Aquino III commended the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) for the effective use of its 'Weather Watch' Facebook Fan Page in boosting government's disaster preparedness and response.

President Aquino was here over the weekend, to inaugurate the Climate Change Academy together with Governor Joey Salceda--the lead initiator of the academy, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje and Presidential Communications and Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Sonny Coloma.

"Congratulations on a good job!", Betty Lou Penera, PIA planning director, quoted President Aquino as saying after he viewed the PIA Weather Watch booth which was part of an exhibit inside the lobby of the academy based at the Bicol University campus.

The FB Weather Watch site relies on the popularity of the social networking site to operate on the framework of 'Problem-Information-Action' or another acronym for the PIA. It was conceived and launched by PIA Director General Jose Fabia at the height of Typhoon Juan in October, last year in coordination with the Central Communications Desk of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

Earlier, Fabia said this other acronym for the agency signifies the free and continuous flow of timely and accurate disaster-related information to the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council and other agencies to help people in need and save lives.

Weather Watch has served as an internet and texting-based tool of the national government for early warning and response in times of natural disasters. In addition to reports monitored from private media on a 24-hour basis, Weather Watch also uses situation reports gathered from the field by PIA staff from 16 regions and 58 provinces across the country.

Likewise, the web page also informs the public, particularly those who have relatives and friends, about the weather situation in disaster-hit areas.

"To put it simply, Weather watch uses new media as a tool in saving lives through disaster preparedness," Penera said, as she described the page that provides not only real-time weather updates, but flooding situations, information on road conditions and even school and work suspensions related to bad weather.

Penera said that among the notable contributions of weather Watch was the immediate rescue of at least 9 families from a landslide that hit St. Bernard town in Southern Leyte on Jan. 2, 2011; the prompt rescue of about 50 passengers from possible drowning on Oct. 1, 2011 when their truck became stranded after the river in Brgy. Tuec in Camiling, Tarlac overflowed due to Typhoon Quiel; and the real-time updates and warning on evacuation efforts as well as observations in the country during the March 11, 2011 Japan tsunami incident.

Currently, Weather Watch has gained a total of 13 million post views, 13,786 feedbacks and 4,570 online "likes." Penera said FB users need only to "like" the Weather Watch page to have a reliable 24/7 source of Philippine weather updates.

Penera was part of a PIA team led by Deputy Director General Virgilio DC Galvez and PIA Bicol Regional Director Ed de Leon which covered the presidential visit in Legazpi City.