Theft putting weather warning in danger

The theft of a solar panel powering the early warning system in Madang is affecting weather data readings.
Madang Disaster office acting director Rudolf Mongallee said the early disaster warning system was installed last month beside the Madang airport runway but inside the airport fence.
“The solar panel was powering a very important facility of the province which was donated to us by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),” Mongallee said.
He said the devices installed in the facility were to provide accurate information that could enable quick responses to disaster.
The early warning system comprises devices that could detect and capture wind speed, air temperature, humidity, solar radiation, soil temperature at different depths, soil-surface temperature and moisture and rainfall.
Alec Dempster, the environmental monitoring technician for National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited in New Zealand who headed the installation work, said the data collected by the facility would be translated by satellite to the National Weather Service in Port Moresby.