Myanmar: Early warning system case study

Background

National Meteorological Services (NMS) have a role to protect people and properties, as well as  to safeguard the economy from the impacts of severe weather and natural hazards.

NMS install early warning systems to receive weather information, issue warnings and alert the population. These systems are key to disaster risk reduction.

However, a lot of countries do not have these systems in place to provide the accurate warnings necessary to prepare and protect.

In Myanmar, it was identified that the infrastructure was outdated and there was a lack of funding to install and maintain modern systems.

Moreover, in Myanmar, weather conditions have a direct impact on the agriculture sector. This sector is one of the most important for Myanmar’s economy; it contributes to 38% of the GDP and employs 70% of the workforce. With 70% of the country’s population living in rural areas, reliable and accurate weather information is imperative. 

UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services) thus launched a modernization project for the National Metrological Service in Myanmar to:

• create an efficient and sustainable weather service
• advance the development of the country and its economy
• contribute to the fight against climate change and natural disasters

Description of the project

COROBOR provided the systems for the UNOPS project – upgrading water level, weather observation and early warning stations and our forecaster web application: NEO.

NEO was installed at the DMH (Department of Meteorology and Hydrology) with a component to monitor and issue early warnings.

NEO allowed the DMH to collect and centralize all of their data on water levels, agrometeorology, weather and early warnings to provide direct warnings to the public.

Since August 2017, after the commissioning of our web application at the DMH HQ, forecasters, climatologists, hydrologists and other end-users now have easy and reliable access to weather data. Information is received to the user’s personal screen or device (PC, smartphone and tablet).

An important type of user is farmers. With a personalized dashboard, they are directly informed of weather conditions and hazards, and can set a level of priority. For example, in the rainy season, one can prioritize receiving information on extreme rainfall.

COROBOR also provided training for users and technicians, ensuring high-quality expertise and an understanding of the systems on a local level.

Benefits of the project

The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology in Myanmar can now fulfil its role of issuing warnings and informing the public of weather conditions and incoming natural hazards. This allows the country to prepare and protect in advance against the impacts of weather disasters.

With the personal web application, farmers are making informed decisions to protect their crops and livestock. This increases productivity, supports their livelihoods and job protection, and gives them greater autonomy in their work.

The systems contribute to the country’s food security, food transport and ability to export. This, in turn, brings benefits to the overall economy of Myanmar.

COROBOR Systems

COROBOR Systems is a France-based company with 26 years of experience. We supply solutions for meteorology and aviation – providing software and systems that collect, process and display meteorological data. Our solutions include early warning systems that contribute to disaster risk reduction.

Working together: The role of NGOs and CSOs

“An EWS is a social process for generating maximally accurate information about possible future harm.”

“Early warning systems […] are people-centered, in particular systems whose warnings are timely and understandable to those at risk […] including guidance on how to act upon warnings.”

Early warning systems are not simply the software; they encompass many different elements of society. COROBOR provides the scientific basis for predicting and forecasting hazards. After that, communities need to understand the risks, respect the warning service and know how to react. Education and preparedness programs play a key role.

This is where NGOs and CSOs play an important part. They can help to improve the effectiveness of the systems in place by involving the community, facilitating public education and an awareness of risks, and ensuring that a state of preparedness is in place.

With the work of COROBOR and NGOs and CSOs, we can improve the flow of warnings from preparation to communication and then to action. This improvement helps to achieve effective early warning systems and contribute to disaster risk reduction worldwide.