Residents of Tumana Village in Marikina are evacuated from their flooded village on July 24, 2024 as heavy rains brought about by the southwest monsoon and enhanced by Typhoon Carina flooded many parts of Metro Manila. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA -- The University of the Philippines Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (UP NOAH) is calling on netizens to help in disaster risk reduction efforts by taking photos of flooded areas and identifying them on UP NOAH's flood hazard map.

UP NOAH executive director Mahay Lagmay said that the country's technology has its limits in terms of projecting the amount of rainfall it expects.

"That's probably a limitation of science the current state of the art even here in UP, the meteorologist underestimated the amount of rain that happened yesterday they were saying these kind of complex system not able to capture the amount of rain delivered yesterday," Lagmay said. 

"I've been looking at different forecast 50 to 100 mm of rain the amount of rain really a lot more than 200 to 400 mm at 2 p.m. that's the state of the art and we must acknowledge the limitation of science," he added.

He added that the people and institutions should work together in order to be quick on responding during disasters.

"It's everybody's responsibility so we should do more maybe do campaigns on education for better awareness. We don't have simulations with scenario incorporating the Manila Bay reclamation project. However, we do have simulation of Senate grounds without the reclamation project, it shows there would be flooding. Even without the reclamation, flooding is possible in that area. Its reflected in our hazard map," he said.

"Maybe we should do more in establishing a practice of safety. We should be alert. The responsibility lies among all of us. We should do more. Do campaigns for better awareness. It's not just the responsibility of institutions, its also the responsibility of the public. No amount of science will work if people don't embrace it."