Beware Of Potential Drought And Fires In The Dry Season

Illustration of dry season (Photo by Md. Hasanuzzaman Himel on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) asks the public to be aware of the potential for drought to forest and land fires that occur during the current dry season.

This refers to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency's early warning regarding the beginning of the dry season phase which began to hit parts of the country in May.

"The beginning of the dry season is marked by the phenomenon of hot air temperatures that occur during the day, which is triggered by the apparent position of the sun which is in the north of the equator," said Plt. Head of BNPB Disaster Data and Communication Center Abdul Muhari in his statement, Tuesday, May 10.

This phenomenon, he said, was also followed by the growth of clouds and the phenomenon of rain which would be greatly reduced, so that sunny weather in the morning before noon would be quite dominant.

"In response to information at the beginning of the dry season which will be dominated by days without rain (HTH) in several areas in the country, BNPB appeals to all policy makers in the regions to increase awareness regarding potential drought disasters and forest and land fires," explained Abdul Muhari.

Abdul Muhari said that the community could carry out a number of mitigation efforts for this potential disaster, such as rehabilitation of irrigation networks, construction of reservoirs and water reservoirs, maintenance of land and water conservation and socialization to the community to save water to be carried out as early as possible.

"In addition, all components in the area must work together to make efforts to prevent forest and land fires by means of routine patrols, monitoring fire-prone points, immediately extinguishing fires when hotspots are found until they are completely extinguished, constructing water reservoirs, Do not throw cigarette butts carelessly and accidentally or arbitrarily burn," he added.