BMKG Strengthens Post-disaster Anticipatory Measures in Sumatra

JAKARTA - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) ensures its commitment to strengthen post-Sumatra disaster anticipatory steps with the operationalization of main operation tools (Aloptama) such as four weather radar units in the affected areas.

BMKG Head Teuku Faisal Fathani ensured the commitment of BMKG to continue to strengthen the anticipation and mitigation of hydrometeorological disasters, especially in supporting post-disaster handling in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra.

"Our task is to manage single and integrated data related to cross-ministry, agency, and regional rehabilitation and reconstruction. We also routinely send meteorological, climatological, and geophysical information every day to support this Task Force, as well as assigning a team to be present directly during working hours at the PRR Task Force which has its office at the Ministry of Home Affairs," said Faisal as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, January 28.

As part of post-disaster support, BMKG operates around 10,800 Aloptama throughout Indonesia. For the Sumatra region affected by the disaster, BMKG relies on four weather radar units located at Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport, Kualanamu Airport, Nias, and Padang.

BMKG itself is actively involved in the Post-disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Task Force (PRR) as mandated in Presidential Decree Number 1 of 2026. BMKG is included as a member of the Data Management Sector which is coordinated by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

In addition to weather radars, BMKG also operates other supporting systems, such as 16 units of Automatic Weather Observing System (AWOS), 11 units of Automatic Weather Station (AWS), and 53 units of Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) in the Sumatra region. Various instruments support the provision of weather and climate information ranging from nowcasting 1-6 hours ahead, daily forecasts, three daily, weekly, quarterly, monthly, to six monthly.

In a working meeting with Commission V in Jakarta, Tuesday (27/1), Faisal added that BMKG continues to improve the dissemination of information to stakeholders and the public. In addition to through WhatsApp groups and direct communication with partners at the national and regional levels, BMKG also operates a call center service.

"We have tried various ways, and currently the process is underway to improve the BMKG interface by involving artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence) so that it can compete with widely circulated global weather platforms," he explained.

Not only that, the Weather Modification Operation (OMC) in the Sumatra region was also carried out. OMC was carried out in four provinces, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, and Lampung.

Currently, OMC is still taking place in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra with one aircraft each, and the success rate of reducing rainfall is above 30 percent.