Taguig City Mayor Lino Edgardo Cayetano convened members of the city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and discussed measures to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus as well as contingency plans during emergency situations.
Cayetano led the first regular meeting for 2020 with the DRRMC at the Kalayaan Hall of SM Aura in Bonifacio Global City focusing on disaster management, resilience, response and prevention.
The Council later agreed to file and enforce the following resolutions:
• Adopting the local action plan of Taguig City against the 2019-novel coronavirus by the local disaster risk reduction management office
-Ordering and recommending the Local Disaster Risk Management funds to acquire and procure materials, tools, equipment, and such other similar provisions necessary for addressing the 2019-novel coronavirus
• Creating the 2019-novel coronavirus task force of Taguig City and establishing its composition and functions, and
• Creating the Taguig Weather Monitoring Team and establishing its composition and functions.
Cayetano and other city officials also launched the Taguig Weather Monitoring System at the same venue.
The system is the first of its kind technology that offers real-time, round-the-clock feeds from cameras situated across some 100 locations.
It can be used in localized flood monitoring, hazard mapping and even in daily community weather updates, providing valuable information to complement information from national agencies such as the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.
Specifically, the Taguig Weather Monitoring System can show the distance of the eye of a storm to a specific area, and allows for accurate six-hour weather forecasts and weather reports for up to a 15-day time period.
The system also has earthquake analytics from specific areas in Taguig. It can show the exact distance of an earthquake’s epicenter to a specific place in the city. Joel E. Zurbano
The system, which relies on around 100 monitoring cameras installed all over Taguig, allows for data-backed decision-making in the event of disasters and calamities. The live feed from the cameras can be seen on the website https://dvis-taguig.com.
“This is a breakthrough in the country’s disaster preparedness because it provides localized and area-specific updates and we are happy Taguig is part of this historic occasion,” Mayor Cayetano said.
He added the Weather Monitoring System also highlights Taguig’s agenda of a government that is more proactive in dealing with disaster resilience, response, and prevention.
The system offers localized weather monitoring solely for Taguig but it is a big step toward promoting a culture of safety and serves as a benchmark for other cities to follow suit.
Ceyetano said the system’s mobile application will be available for city residents soon.