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TAGUIG City -- Typhoon Ruby (international code name Hagupit) has weakened according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and has been  has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

On its 11 a.m. advisory on Monday, December 8, PAGASA noted that Typhoon Ruby has weakened and is now packing maximum sustained winds of 105 kilometers per hour (kph) with a gustiness of up to 135 kph. With its present track, it is forecast to move west northwest at a slow pace of 10 kph. Because TY Ruby weakened, it is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) by Thursday instead of the initial forecast of Wednesday.

Metro Manila expects to experience strong winds and heavy rains from Typhoon Ruby when the tropical cyclone passes close to the metropolis between 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today, December 8.

DOST-PAGASA has raised public storm warning Signal No. 2 over Metro Manila, while Signal No. 3 warning was raised in several provinces south of the nation's capital.

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“Now is the time to apply what we learned.”

With these words, DOST Secretary Mario G. Montejo reminded all participating local government officials to set in motion the key learnings from the series of disaster risk reduction and mitigation (DRRM) workshops held in all 17 regions over the summer conducted by the science department and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to prepare for worst-case scenarios such as Typhoon Ruby, which entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility Thursday morning, December 4th.

The DRRM workshops, called “Iba Na AngPanahon/Science for Safer Communities,” were in response to the need for heightened awareness and closer coordination among stakeholders in the wake of Typhoon Yolanda. They promoted a more science-based, scenario-oriented approach that highlighted the preventive aspect of disaster risk reduction and mitigation.

Likewise, Montejo advised the public to stay tuned for the latest developments on the typhoon track through reliable sources such as the DOST’s PAGASA and Project NOAH websites.He warned against the spreading of unverified news information via text messages and social media that only cause panic and confusion in the populace.

As of 11 AM, December 4th, Typhoon Ruby was spotted 860 kilometers east of Surigao City and packing maximum winds of 195 kilometers per hour near the center with gustiness reaching 230 KPH. The typhoon is forecast to move at a rate of 20 KPH west northwest and make landfall by late Friday evening or early Saturday morning. (S&T Media Service)

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All the local weather information you want, you may find in this one-stop shop currently being set-up by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) with the help of computer giant International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
Called the Intelligent Operations Center or IOC, the one-stop shop aims to consolidate information from PAGASA as well as the different components of the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (Project NOAH).

Formally unveiled during the last leg of DOST’s nationwide information campaign dubbed as “Iba na ang Panahon: Science for Safer Communities” at the Philippine International Convention Center in May 2014, IOC will also provide analysis of a disaster’s possible impact.

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Quezon City will soon rid its estuaries of tons of garbage clogging its waterways with the recent turnover of an Automatic Trash Raker Facility (ATR) by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to the city.

The waterways run all the way to San Juan River which is blamed for the above-the-waist flooding in G. Araneta Avenue in QC and its nearby barangays.

Developed by DOST’s Metals Institute Research and Development Center, the ATR was patterned after existing foreign developed trash rakers in Metro Manila’s pumping stations. At five meters high and six meters wide, the machine has six rakes and is run by a 10 HP motor output. It collects trash thrice a day for 5-10 minutes, depending on the volume of garbage that flows especially during typhoons.