 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2012 |
| Headquarters | Quezon City, Philippines |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent Agency | Department of Science and Technology (2012–2017) University of the Philippines (2017–present) |
| Website | noah noahcenter |
Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazard) is the Philippines' primary disaster risk reduction and management program. Managed by the University of the Philippines, it was initially administered by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) from 2012 to 2017.
Project NOAH was a response to President Aquino's call for a better disaster prevention and mitigation system in the Philippines in the aftermath of the destructive Tropical Storm Sendong in December 2011. [1] [2] It was publicly launched by President Aquino, project head Mahar Lagmay, and other government officials in Marikina on July 6, 2012. [3] The program combines science and technology for disaster risk reduction and management. [4] It is also a responsive program that aims to provide a 6-hour lead-time warning to agencies involved in disaster prevention and mitigation. [5] The project also uses advanced technologies to enhance current geo-hazard vulnerability maps. It is also being developed with the help of the National Institute of Geological Sciences and the College of Engineering of the University of the Philippines; the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA); the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS); the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI), and the Science and Technology Information Institute (STII). [1] The project is now composed of twenty-one institutions from the local and private sectors, including media and telecommunication companies. [6]
The program involves seven major components: [1]
The program has been dubbed as the country's flagship disaster prevention and mitigation program. [2] [7] [8]
In January 2017 however, the Philippine government announced that Project NOAH would be shut down effective March 1, citing lack of funds; it was supposed to remain in operation only until February 28, 2017. [9] [10] On February 23, 2017, the University of the Philippines decided to adopt Project NOAH and continue its operations upon the termination of its administration by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on February 28. [2] [11]
The last component completed before the end of its DOST-administered era was the Integrated Scenario-based Assessment of Impacts and Hazards (ISAIAH), which sought to translate hazards mapped by the project into municipal-level risk assessments that detail the level of exposure and vulnerability of a community. The component allowed citizens to contribute ground-level risk information through the use of OpenStreetMap. [12] The component resulted to completion of 16 provinces mapped with 2.2 million structures added to the database. [13]
On June 20, 2017, the University of the Philippines relaunched the UP Resilience Institute with Project NOAH, now called NOAH Center, as its flagship program. [14] [15]
 | |
| Developer(s) | Department of Science and Technology |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 17 October 2012 |
| Stable release(s) | |
| Operating system | Android, iOS |
| Size | 1.8 MB (Android) [16] 17.6 MB (iOS) [17] |
| Website | www |
The official mobile version of project NOAH was launched by then-DOST Secretary Mario Montejo and Smart Communications on 17 October 2012. The app was developed by Rolly Rulete together with Pablito Veroy and Jay Albano. The mobile application prototype was originally written in HTML5. [18] [19]
Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies, which can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day-to-day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also common. The outcome of emergency management is to prevent disasters and where this is not possible, to reduce their harmful impacts.
Dr. Raymundo Santiago Punongbayan was the former director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) from 1983 to 2002. Punongbayan became popular after handling two well-known calamities, the 1990 Luzon earthquake and the 1991 Pinatubo eruption. PHIVOLCS is the government agency in charge of conducting volcanic and earthquake monitoring in order to generate data that could be used to predict volcanic eruptions and earthquake occurrences.
The Department of Science and Technology, is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the coordination of science and technology-related projects in the Philippines and to formulate policies and projects in the fields of science and technology in support of national development.
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Alfredo Mahar Francisco Amante Lagmay is a Filipino geologist. He is executive director of Project NOAH and a professor at the National Institute of Geological Sciences of the University of the Philippines Diliman.
The Philippine Earth Data Resource and Observation Center, also known as the PEDRO Center is an organization tasked in operating satellite ground stations.
Diwata-2 or Diwata-2B is a Philippine microsatellite launched on October 29, 2018. It is the first satellite launched under the STAMINA4Space program.
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Climate change in the Philippines is having serious impacts such as increased frequency and severity of natural disasters, sea level rise, extreme rainfall, resource shortages, and environmental degradation. All of these impacts together have greatly affected the Philippines' agriculture, water, infrastructure, human health, and coastal ecosystems and they are projected to continue having devastating damages to the economy and society of the Philippines.
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Climate change adaptation in the Philippines is being incorporated into development plans and policies that specifically target national and local climate vulnerabilities. As a developing country and an archipelago, the Philippines is particularly vulnerable to a variety of climatic threats like intensifying tropical cyclones, drastic changes in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels, and rising temperatures. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. In 2021, the Global Climate Risk Index ranked the Philippines fourth of the ten countries most affected between the years 2000 and 2019. The need for managing climate risks through climate change adaptation has become increasingly evident. Adaptation can reduce, moderate or avoid current and expected climate effects or take advantage of beneficial climatic events. Developing greater resilience to various threats can be a major goal of comprehensive disaster risk reduction strategy. The Philippines is therefore working on a number of national and local adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies to build the country's climate resilience.
Media related to Project NOAH (Philippines) at Wikimedia Commons