Flood mapping and forecasting in the Philippines - my first week

I've tried to arrive here with no preconceptions about what I'll be doing, and on reflection this has probably been the right thing to do. I've been amazed at the progress I've seen since i was first here around 18 months ago - there are large teams of keen graduates working on flood mapping and forecasting, who've already produced results for many river basins.

Merged LiDAR - sonar DTM for river in central Luzon

Some of the storm surge related forecasting is impressive too - they're not doing routine forecasts yet, but do run simulations for big events such as Haiyan, which produced such devastation in Tacloban in November 2013. Their model predicted a storm surge height very close to what was actually seen, and with a 6 hour lead time too. It's another story that this information wasn't acted upon until about 3 hours before the surge hit.

But scratch below the surface and there are still some big challenges - using the vast amount of data being collected is going to be hard, and will need some thinking about. The teams are under pressure from above to deliver products as quickly as possible, but without necessarily having the experience to balance the need for accuracy within the time available.

I guess the biggest problem for me is how to challenge the way things are being done, without seeming (overly) critical. They've had around 2 years of flood modelling experience, mine is closer to 20. So I'm seeing problems that other people won't pick up on, which could make a big difference to the quality of the final products. The sheer numbers of people killed and lives affected by big typhoon events over here means these are important decisions.

One of the desirable characteristics on the volunteer placement description was
"diplomatic" - which isn't me. I may have to wait for Al to arrive. He's worked a lot here before, so may be able to put things in a constructive way, which won't alienate the team here. 

Or perhaps we can do things the classic VSO way. Time to organise a workshop?