Office trains cadets in sea conditions, climate, weather

By JASON DOM
THE National Weather Office is training 30 cadets to specialise in weather, climate and sea conditions to help in the sustainable development of the country
It is most important to incorporate climate impact studies when considering sustainable development, National Weather Office director Samuel Maiha said.
He questioned the benefits to people when a K100 million bridge or road was washed away by floods or a landslide.
Maiha told The National that weather was becoming an important factor for sustainable development in this age of global warming and climate change.
He said weather conditions would still affect infrastructure developments, especially roads, bridges, as well as farming if proper weather impact reports were not extracted and analysed.
“What benefits does our people get if a K100 million bridge on the Highlands Highway funded by the government is washed away by the floods?” he said.
“Would the government continue to use unsustainable resources revenue from oil and gas to repay the loans over a miscalculation of simple weather impact?
“We need smart, intellectual human capital with multi-skills who can differentiate, mitigate and predict climate change in the future and present it to developers to make best infrastructural designs.”
Maiha said this would help sustain infrastructure development and minimise and cut costs.
He said the weather office was training 36 cadets with different backgrounds to understand the basics of meteorology.
“They will be put into groups in order to be a specialist climatologist, meteorologist, in Information Technology and meteorological technicians to collect data and ocean science.”
Maiha said the training was basically to meet the government’s medium-term development plan and 2050 vision.
He said the cadets would be completing their training next month and advance for further international training.