BNPB Will Help Areas With Drought Emergency Status

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has stated its readiness to intervene in the form of providing assistance to areas with drought emergency status due to El Nino.

"If the local government has stated that it cannot, then it has been declared a drought emergency status and asks for central assistance, we BNPB are ready to intervene, provide assistance as requested," said the Head of the BNP Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center, Abdul Muhari, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, October 3.

The provision of assistance, he said, adjusted to requests from local governments affected by drought so that both amounts and forms of assistance would be different.

BNPB mentioned the form of assistance intervention, including the fulfillment of clean water from residents, the provision of water reservoirs which were originally the responsibility of the local government, and assistance with weather modification technology (TMC) by distributing salt to convective clouds.

Several provinces that experience drought and have received TMC assistance from BNPB, such as Banten in early August 2023 and DKI Jakarta at the end of August 2023.

Acting Deputy for Climatology of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Ardhasena Sopaheliwakan in an official statement said that most parts of Indonesia are still experiencing the dry season and about 11 percent of the total areas are entering the rainy season.

He said several provinces in Indonesia were even still classified alert in the early warning of meteorological drought during the first basis in October 2023.

Some of these provinces include South Sumatra, Lampung, West Java, Central Java, Banten, and DKI Jakarta.

"And eleven other provinces," he said.

The public is asked to take preventive measures to save water use during the dry season.