Brazil to get national disaster prevention and warning system

To help prevent further tragedies, the system will use the supercomputer, Tupa, acquired by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) to improve weather forecasting

The Brazilian government is to set up the National Natural Disaster Prevention and Warning System. Based on meteorological and geophysical data, it will be possible to give early warnings in order that people be taken out of areas at risk. The announcement was made on Monday, after a meeting between President Dilma Rousseff and Ministers Aloizio Mercadante (Science and Technology), Nelson Jobim (Defense), Jose Eduardo Cardozzo (Justice), Fernando Bezerra (National Integration), Alexandre Padilha (Health) and Palocci (Chief of Staff).

The system will provide information on the most common natural disasters in Brazil, such as the landslides and flooding that have struck the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state (in the Southeast Brazil) this last week. To help prevent further tragedies, the system will use the supercomputer, Tupa, acquired by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) to improve weather forecasting. It can survey rainfall over an area can of up to five kilometers - currently available equipment surveys a space of 20 kilometers - which will increase the success rate of forecasts.

It is expected that the system will be fully operational in four years. However, data from the most critical areas at risk should be available next summer