Head of Project NOAH envies Mario Maurer

The head of one of the country’s disaster warning systems said one of the fastest ways through which warnings could be disseminated was the social media.

Project NOAH director Dr. Mahar Lagmay, however, said that if information shared through social media went unnoticed by the public, efforts of the government will be put to waste.

“It’s not all about science and technology, kahit gaanong ganda nito, kapag hindi ito inembrace ng taong bayan, magiging balewala ito,” Lagmay said in a speech at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Manila.

Lagmay recalled sharing information on Twitter about an impending storm in Mindanao. He, however, only received 15 retweets.

“Mario Maurer tweeted at the same time I did, and he immediately gets 600 + retweets, and all he said was ‘good afternoon po’,” he added.

Lagmay explained that Project NOAH or the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazard was an inter-agency collaboration “to promote and integrate advanced science and technology to enhance disaster management and prevention capacity of the Philippine government.” —Amanda Fernandez/NB, GMA News