The Aquino government continues to use technology and research in addressing and mitigating disasters in the country, said a Department of Science and Technology official. In a regular Communications News Exchange Forum last week at the Philippine Information Agency, Science and Technology Undersecretary Graciano Yumul said one of the projects that the department is embarking on is DREAM or Disaster Risk Exposure Assessment and Mitigation Project.

He revealed that President Aquino has approved the project’s budget of P1.6B. DREAM is a micro mapping project that will utilize the LIDAR technology to get a picture of the ground to produce 3D maps. He said the project will prioritize the 16 river basins in the country and urban areas prone to flooding.

The two-year project will be implemented by the University of the Philippines. According to wikipedia, LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging, also LiDAR) is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser. Read More