Curhatan Of The Head Of BMKG, Early Warning Of Disasters Beaten By The Riot Of The Atta Halilintar-Aurel Marriage

JAKARTA - Head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Dwikorita Karnawati said that early warning of disasters is often inferior to trending events.

In fact, he said, the disaster warning related to the tropical cyclone Seroja had lost trending with the marriage of Atta Halilintar and Aurel Hermansyah.

"When the early warning was issued, the trend went up. But after 12 o'clock at night, the trending of Atta-Aural's marriage was lost. So we lost this," said Dwikorita, as quoted in his written statement, Friday, April 23.

He conveyed this when he launched the Disaster Alert Movement online on Friday, April 23. This event was attended by a number of high-ranking officials such as the Head of BNPB Doni Monardo, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, to Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini.

Dwikorita in front of the 5th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri and other officials who were present, he said that this became an important lesson. In particular, in initiating the Disaster Alert Movement.

Because, for every early warning announcement, BMKG must package the best possible information. Below, we will detail the impact of a potential disaster.

"So if the information from BMKG apologizes, we issue an early warning that does not always get attention. That is a lesson for us, it means that our early warning is less interesting," he said.

Another example, he said, is early warning using English. Dwikorita said there was information on disasters related to flooding in Jakarta which was adapted by the United States Embassy in Indonesia. This information is said to be more attention-grabbing.

"We gave an early warning a week before, repeated three days before, and the day before with Pak Doni (Head of BNPB Doni Monardo). But it was still not a concern. Once the American Embassy used BMKG data to provide early warnings because in English, everyone was interested. , "said Dwikorita.

He said the data on disasters in Indonesia had been clearly announced. For example, regarding earthquake data for the last three months. Dwikorita said the earthquake disaster graph continued to increase.

"Starting January 662 times, then February 526 times and March up to 920 times," he explained.

The incident, he said, did not only happen in Indonesia, but had become a natural phenomenon in various countries. So, through the Disaster Alert Movement, he encouraged strengthening of early information on natural disasters.

Dwikorita said BMKG had integrated information with the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation (PMNVBG) of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. This integration is needed because many tsunamis were initiated by volcanic eruptions.

"Currently (we have, ed) working with our Geological Agency has succeeded in obtaining direct data integration from monitoring Mount Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait. But there are still many spheres (volcanoes, ed) around 8 other locations that have the potential to cause a tsunami. , "he concluded.