MANILA, Philippines – Do you want to see the impact of Ondoy or Sendong-like floods right in your neighborhood?

Visit nababaha.com, a Philippine flood reporting and mapping system created by the National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS) of the University of the Philippines (UP).

The website provides flood hazard maps for various parts of the country, including simulations of extreme event situations such as tropical storm Ondoy that hit Metro Manila in 2009.

The simulations are created through Flo2d, a flood routing application software approved by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Three cities in Metro Manila -- Valenzuela, Marikina, and Quezon City -- have been mapped. Simulations show that large areas of Marikina, as well as the MRT stations on Quezon Avenue and Cubao are prone to floods.

The website also has a flood reporting option for the public. Data collected from reports help verify the flood hazard maps.

"Nababaha.com is a demonstration that certain areas of the Philippines can get hit by Ondoy-type floods," said Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay of UP NIGS.

"That is the kind of flood levels that the area will get... that these places, especially the low-lying places will experience," he told ANC Primetime on Thursday.

Lagmay and a group of volunteers from the UP NIGS' volcano-tectonics laboratory created nababaha.com after Ondoy struck in 2009.

Around 40% of the map has been finished and the website developers are asking for government support in mapping the remaining areas in the country.

Volunteer work

Lagmay said all of nababaha.com is voluntary work.

"It's not funded. There's a group of volunteers. They've been working on each watershed, trying to simulate for any type of rain, the flooding that will ensure for that kind of scenario," he said.

"We want simulations to build scenarios that will identify the hazards," he added.

He said using the Internet, the information shown on the website can be disseminated and reach far-flung areas.

"Even if low-income people don't have access to the Internet, I'm sure the local government has. They can print it and then they can just go to the barangay, the community and tell them that this is the scenario," Lagmay said.

"If people are aware... then they know. That is the first step to disaster preparedness -- knowledge, education," he added.

Community preparedness

Lagmay said disaster-preparedness is a community endeavor, with the public and the government working together.

"What we need to have is everybody trying to participate. Scientists can't work on their own. We need to work with the government," he said.

"We need to use advanced science and technology, use what is available, like the internet, which is actually the inspiration of nababaha.com," he added.

Lagmay said people should be pro-active in preparing for disasters, particularly floods.

"If there is no geohazard map, they should ask from their mayor, 'Where is it?' They should demand it," he said. "If there is a map, they should ask their mayor what should they do, where is the evacuation route?"

"If it happens in the early morning, what should they do? Is there an evacuation signal? They must demand it. They must inquire," he added.

He said local government units, the national government, and individuals are key parts of the disaster preparedness chain.

"[LGUs] are key. They lead. The national government is key as well. If the individual does not listen, then everything will collapse. All of the efforts will just be in vain," he explained.

"They should all be coherent, especially for the Philippines. The family should be trained," he said.

Government at forefront

Lagmay said the government should be at the forefront of preventing disasters.

He said they are advising government agencies and local government offices to move to higher areas safe from floods.

"The problem is most of the prime lots are in the low-lying areas," he said.

"If the airports, malls, government agencies are in safer areas, then the people will follow," Lagmay said. "In the future, you're preparing the population of those hazardous areas."

He added that government should identify hazardous areas and move people away from such sites if there is no engineering solution to prevent a disaster from happening.

Lagmay said such is the case in northern Mindanao, which is reeling from the disaster caused by flash floods that storm Sendong spawned.

"They were warned in 2009. Even government has warned them with geohazard maps, but I guess it's a communication problem," he said. "Everybody needs to participate."