A Total Of 96 Tons Of Salt Sprinkled For Flood Mitigation-Karhutla In East Kalimantan

JAKARTA - A total of 96 tons of salt or sodium chloride (NaCl) was used as material for semai in a weather modification operation carried out by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) team to mitigate the potential for flooding and forest and land fires (Karhutla) in East Kalimantan.

Head of the BNPB Disaster Data, Information and Communication Center, Abdul Muhari, said that tens of tons of NaCl as material semai were used during the continuous weather modification operation starting from July 15, 2024, to several areas in East Kalimantan.

Based on the report, 119 pieces of flights have been carried out using Casa aircraft with a total of 111 tons of material collected by NaCl and eight tons of CaO.

The air operation is used to reduce the potential risk of wet hydro-meteorological disasters, such as flooding in the North Penajam Paser Regency and Mahakam Ulu which are also buffer areas for the capital city of Nusantara (IKN).

This weather modification operation in East Kalimantan is also carried out as a form of reducing the risk of dry hydro-meteorological disasters, such as forest and land fires (karhutla) and drought.

Based on inventory data from the task force team in the January-July 202 period, the number of hotspots in East Kalimantan has reached 9,148 points.

The task force team found that the majority of the hotspots were in the East Kutai and Kutai Kartanegara Regencies.

If not handled optimally then it can potentially spread to other regions as the dry season is exposed to strong winds that are currently taking place.

According to Abdul Muhari, BNPB deployed a total of four helicopters, each of which was used for patrols and water sprinkling from the air to East Kalimantan.

This includes providing all support for supporting logistics facilities and infrastructure sourced from the allocation of Ready Funds to Use BNPB to the local provincial government to overcome forest and land fires.

The support provided is a commitment of BNPB to maximize disaster preparedness efforts, support the smooth development and a series of activities for Indonesia's 79th birthday at IKN.