University of the Philippines to continue Project NOAH

The University of the Philippines (UP) has announced that it will continue the operation of Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards).

At its 1325th meeting on February 23, 2017, the University of the Philippines Board of Regents approved the adoption of Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) by UP upon the termination of its administration by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on February 28.

In January 2017, it was reported that Project NOAH is in danger of getting terminated due to lack of funds. The Department of Agriculture also expressed its intention to save the project by taking over. With the recent announcement, Project NOAH’s new home will be the UP.

“In a sense, Project NOAH is coming home,” said UP President Danilo L. Concepcion after the BOR meeting, noting that the project was conceived by the DOST with the help of UP professors, led by its executive director Dr. Alfredo Mahar Lagmay from the National Institute of Geological Sciences (NIGS), and that most of the project’s staff have come from UP.

The DOST Project NOAH, an acronym for Nationwide Operation Assessment Hazard, is a primary disaster risk reduction and management program created “to promote and integrate advanced science and technology to enhance disaster management and prevention capacity of the Philippine government.”

The program will now fall under the Office of the President in UP.

source: up.edu.ph