The Solomon Islands Early Action Rainfall Watch is a monthly seasonal rainfall monitoring and prediction bulletin issued by the Solomon Islands Meteorological Services to inform government and non-government agencies including women, disables and communities about recent and upcoming period of prolonged drier or wetter than normal conditions.
The purpose of the Early Action Rainfall (EAR) Watch is to prompt disaster management agencies and relevant sectors to act to reduce the impact of drier or wetter than normal conditions on sectors and communities. Solomon Islands Meteorological Service have developed and modified the EAR Watch with extensive input from disaster management stakeholders including communities since its inception through trainings and workshops.
This month, the Solomon Islands Meteorological Service launched the revised version of EAR Watch which presented the Past Rainfall and Rainfall Outlook information in tabular format with different warnings colour codes and alert levels. The use of colour codes in translating the information has gain much appreciation from stakeholders as it easier to follow and understand.
In the EAR Watch, it includes the agricultural and hydrological impacts that have been associated with meteorological drought at 1, 3, 6, and 12-months periods including the social, economic and health impacts. The impacts are listed to help stakeholders understand what aspects of water supply, agriculture, health and economy may be significantly affected when a location in Solomon Islands is in drought for different time scales.
Contact details
For more information on this topic, please contact the Director, Mr David Hiriasia or Deputy Director, Lloyd Tahani at the Solomon Islands Meteorological Services on: Phone: 20332 or 42955
Email: david.hiba@met.gov.sb or l.tahani@met.gov.sb
-MECDM Press