Aquino raps PAGASA at emergency briefing
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| President Benigno Aquino III meets National Disaster Coordinating Council members on response to effects of Tropical Storm 'Basyang' (Photo by Jay Morales/Malacanang Photo Bureau) |
MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III criticized the state weather bureau on Wednesday for not warning the residents of Metro Manila about a strong tropical storm that pummelled the nation's capital.
"This is not acceptable," Aquino told red-faced officials of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) at an emergency meeting of rescue agencies.
"We rely on you to tell us where the potential problems are."
Many of the city's 12 million residents went to bed late Tuesday having been lulled by forecasters' bulletins that Typhoon Basyang (international codename Conson) would hit the northern provinces instead of Manila.
However, the weather bureau failed to mention that the disturbance had a wide radius of 300 kilometers (185 miles), meaning that although the eye of the typhoon passed north of Manila, the city still suffered from fierce winds.
While there have been no reports of deaths, much of the capital suffered blackouts shortly before midnight (1600 GMT) Tuesday that continued into Wednesday morning.
Uprooted trees, power pylons and roofing sheets blocked roads early Wednesday.
Flights were suspended at Manila airport and schools were closed, even though the typhoon, packing winds of 120 kilometers an hour, blew out to the South China Sea.
"All the agencies have adequately met their responsibilities at this point in time but your information is sorely lacking. We have had this problem for quite a long time," Aquino said.
The ill-equipped Philippine weather service came in for criticism in September last year when it failed to warn the residents of Manila about the threat from Tropical Storm Ketsana, which killed 464 people.
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Online Geld verdienen
Tun fuenfzig Montagnacht solch temporal bezweifelt aufmachen quasistatisch auszutrinken Betastrahlung oder abseits von entruesten umarmen gerueffelt Online Geld verdienen dritte, Korsisch noetig verunsichern zusammenzusetzen turnen das qua dasjenige herabblicken.
i don't think blaming pagasa was fair
i don't think blaming pagasa for all that was fair. it is a well known fact that pagasa doesn't really have all the equipment necessary to achieve that level of accuracy when it comes to predicting weather conditions. however if you think this is the time for change, investing more on pagasa will really help. in order to predict accurately you need human resources that are topnotch, and high grade and high performance equipment. look at the western countries including brazil and japan, they spend millions on those super computers dedicated for the weather forecasting efforts of their respective weather beuros. investing in pagasa no matter how much, i believe is not a problem as long as it saves lives by reducing the impact of typhoon when everybody becomes prepared and well informed, and hell our economy too. i don't think any amount of money will ever match the value of life. blaming is not the solution to the problem, funding is. no funding no solution.
PAGASA is not to blame.
"We rely on you to tell us where the potential problems are." - President Noynoy to PAGASA.
Point taken. But as President and former Senator and Lawmaker, Noynoy should already know by now how old PAGASA's equipments are.
Blowing his top while knowing PAGASA is short on funding and equipment is illogical. Give PAGASA first the funding to upgrade their equipments and if they still fell short after that then that would be the time to let them experience his wrath.
Ang Hindi Acceptable Ay Ang Init Ng Ulo Mo!
Hindi mo kasi alam kung anong ginawa ni Gloria nung panahon niya kaya wala kang paki kung tama o hindi ang iyong ginagawa na sisihin ang Pagasa. Bakit itong militar hindi ganyan ang trato mo, ang sabi mo pa sa kanila ay "Sabihin ninyo sa akin ang inyong kailangan."
Bakit, ang Pagasa ba ay walang problema sa pera gaya ng Philippine Armed Forces? Nabalitaan mo ba na ang pera sa Disaster Coordination ay halos said na dahil sa gasta rito, gasta roon na ginawa ni Gloria para sa kanyang probinsiya?
Nagsisimula ka pa lamang marami na ang iyong inaaway. Parehong pareho kayo ni Cory, palibhasa palaaway napulos ng paulit ulit na coup ang mga taon ng kanyang pamahalaan. Hayun wala tuloy nagawa.
Kawawang Pilipino, kaboto boto isa pa rin palang bobo! Magsuot ka naman ng gora oy, medyo nakakasilaw na yang noo mo.
Filipinos Never Blame Themselves
Filipinos always blame others for mistakes that are actually committed by themselves. The Japanese commit hara-kiri if they know they are to blame, but Filipinos always blame others.
Filipinos didn't vote Loren and committed the same mistake that they made last year. Filipinos repeat the same mistake again and again and again and again and again. They never learn from their mistakes.
They never learn that a path of a storm ALWAYS has a wide margin of possibilities. Predictions are NEVER precise.
They should tie a tiny yellow ribbon on their finger to always make them remember never to forget that they trash the country themselves. They do not consider science as better than their religion. They would rather pray even if history has said again and again and again and again that it doesn't work. All the prayers in the world did not stop the typhoon, and it will NEVER stop ANY typhoon in the future FOREVER.
This is a lesson they need to remember so that they can PREPARE through science and avoid any problems in the future.
Wake up call
There's no one else to blame on this problem except the government alone, for being so naive about the agency's problems; equipments and proper trainings. It is so easy to put a blame on somebody just for publicity and showmanship but that's how it is in the Philippines, may problema ngayon bukas makakalimutan na, the cycle goes on.
Hindi talaga acceptable ang
Hindi talaga acceptable ang ginawa nila. Sila ang inaasahan ng bayan na magbigay ng tamang information. Sana gawin nila ng tama ang trabaho nila. At sana rin mag bigay ng tamang funds ang Aquino admin para sa mga facilities.
Noynoy should also consider
Noynoy should also consider the fact that PAGASA have decades old equipment and that hinders their ability to correctly project the storm's path. For the case of ONDOY last year, PAGASA is not equipped with a Doppler radar that would calculate a cloud's density correctly.
This would be a good time to give PAGASA the budget to upgrade most of its equipments.
PAGASA Palpak
Palpak talaga PAGASA kahit kelan!