The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) Albay has announced that they already formed the Heat Index (Human Discomfort Index) Warning Criteria during the Joint Emergency PDRRMC-RDRRMC Executive Meeting held Thursday, April 11, 2024.
Upon finalization of the said criteria, Albay Public Safety and Emergency Management Office (APSEMO) head Dr. Cedric Daep has shared that it will be the first in the Philippines and even worldwide, noting that guidelines for suspension of classes and work are implemented only in the event of weather systems and disturbances such as Active Low-Pressure Areas, Troughs of Low Pressure, Tropical Depressions, Tropical Storms, Severe Tropical Storms, Super Typhoons, and Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), among others.
According to Daep, said criteria will serve as the basis for drafting implementating guidelines and issuances of appropriate advisories for the suspension of classes for public schools and alternative work arrangements in government offices in the province of Albay in times of El Niño.
Moreover, the official also added that said criteria will also include indicators which will guide private schools, private offices, and establishments, upon the discretion of school administrators, and their heads to implement the same.
Daep earlier stressed the need of a comprehensive and clear guidelines amid the recorded increase of the heat index due to El Niño phenomenon.
The official said that such criteria is in congruence with PAGASA effect-based classification, a classification threshold adapted from National Weather Services-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NWS-NOAA).
(Source: Albay PIO)
