Anticipate Extreme Weather, Minister Of Transportation Budi Intensively Coordinates With BMKG To BRIN

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Transportation)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Transportation is intensifying coordination with BMKG, BRIN, and BNPB to anticipate extreme weather that occurs during the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year holidays.

The coordination meeting (rakor) discussed weather forecasts and their recommendations, as a reference material that is very important for transportation management, so as to provide alerts or warnings to people who travel.

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi said a number of areas that had been predicted to see a surge in passenger movements during the 2022 Christmas and New Year holidays in 2023 would be a special concern to anticipate bad weather.

The areas in question are Jabodetabek, West Java and Central Java, as well as several straits that will be crowded by ferry passengers, namely the Sunda Strait, Bali Strait, and Lombok Strait.

"Due to the high increase in passengers during the Naru holiday this time and the potential for extreme weather that endangers travel safety, we will continue to coordinate intensively with BMKG, BRIN, and BNPB," he said in an online coordination meeting, in Jakarta, Thursday, December 29.

Budi said that the Ministry of Transportation needed recommendations for weather conditions together with transportation facilities and infrastructure managers to issue policies in the transportation sector.

For example, continued Budi, the issuance of Notice to Airmen (Notam) in the aviation sector to postpone flights, or cancel flights.

Then, issue a Sailing Approval Letter (SPB) in the marine sector and crossings to delay ships from sailing during weather, waves, and ocean currents is declared in extreme conditions.

"We really need this recommendation to provide alerts or alerts to people who will travel. So when the weather is declared not good and endangers travel safety, we will explicitly issue a policy to postpone transportation travel until the weather conditions improve," said the Minister of Transportation.

Budi admitted that he would coordinate with regional heads, especially in areas where there was a significant increase in passengers during the 2022 Christmas and New Year 2023 holidays, to be more alert to weather disturbances that occurred.

Due to the weather, a number of incidents in the transportation sector have occurred. For this reason, we ask the Director General to impose a more assertive policy, for example: limiting vehicles with certain loads, or canceling travel for mutual safety," he said.

Year-End Weather Forecast

On the same occasion, Head of BMKG Dwikorita Karnawati said, based on the weather forecast for the period December 29, 2022, to January 1, 2023, there was the potential for rain with moderate to very heavy intensity to occur in the Jabodetabek area.

"Tomorrow (Friday, December 30, 2022), the potential for heavy to very heavy rain will occur in most areas of Jabodetabek. Meanwhile, the day after tomorrow (Saturday, December 31) and January 1, 2023, the intensity of light to moderate rain," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of BRIN, Laksana Tri Handoko, said that his party had made efforts to modify the weather using Weather Modification Technology (TMC).

Through TMC, said Tri Handoko, it can modify the weather, either increasing the intensity of rainfall in a certain place (rain immunity) or reducing the intensity of rainfall in a certain place (rain reduction).

"We have made namings in a number of areas from December 25-28 2022 and will continue until early January 2023," said Tri.

The Head of BNPB Lt. Gen. Suharyanto said the same thing. He explained that the implementation of weather modification through TMC requires coordination from local governments to determine emergency situations in their respective regions.

"If an emergency situation has been determined, the TMC team can quickly carry out seeding operations via plane," he said.