Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Project NOAH Executive Director Dr. Mahar Lagmay strongly believes human resources are more important than technology when it comes to assessing disaster risks in various parts of the country.
He made this statement on Tuesday amid reports that state weather bureau PAGASA will take over the technologies developed by the team behind Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazard).
As it is, Lagmay said their team of 80 had already been reduced to 40 due to funding issues. He also pointed out, losing the rest of the team of highly-skilled researchers and scientists will be a huge waste.
“As a scientist, ang concern ko is to be able to secure the human resource, yung mga tao,” he said.
Lagmay also said letting go of the scientists will be a waste of “investments.”
“Kapag inisip ko yung disaster program, kailangan natin ng disaster scientists and we have invested heavily on them,” he said.
[Translation: When I think of the disaster program, we really need disaster scientists and we have invested heavily on them.]
He is appealing to the government to continue allocating funds for risk assessment projects under NOAH.
He said Team Noah is also open to forging partnerships with private groups.
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Fortunato dela Peña said research projects such as NOAH really have start and end dates.
He said researchers can submit proposals for new projects, which may be considered for funding.
Lagmay said the team had already submitted proposals for new projects last November 2016. The DOST has yet to respond to these proposals.
“When we announced the project will end on February 28, it was because of that absence of answer to that proposal. Of course when there’s no answer, we would like to think of the future of people working for Project NOAH,” he said.
When asked if PAGASA has the skill and capability to take over Team Noah’s research, tools, and technologies, Lagmay said it is doable to a certain extent. He added some of PAGASA’s employees have undergone some training with NOAH.
“Yung mga technologies, data, maps that we produced, it is available to everybody. Pwede naman gamitin yun. But yung human resource, papano?” he said.
[Translation: The technologies, data, maps that we produced, it is available to everybody. It can be used. But how about human resource?]
Lagmay said the program is best run by their team — the team who were there since the program was established in 2012.
PAGASA refused to comment on the issue.
