BMKG Reminds NTT Residents About Potential Forest Fires In The Dry Season

Illustration/Photo: Antara

LABUAN BAJO - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reminded the people of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province to anticipate potential drought disasters and forest and land fires (Karhutla) that will occur in the dry season in 2022.

"In general, the NTT region is currently entering the dry season. What is needed is the potential for dry hydrometeorological disasters such as drought and land forest fires", said the BMKG Public Meteorological Center, Fachri Radjab, when contacted from Bajo Lab, Tuesday, July 19.

Anticipating the potential for forest and land fires, he said, can be done by residents by not burning land or carrying out activities that cause fires, while anticipating droughts, among others, by saving and saving air.

Fachri also asked the public to actively collect information on the weather from the BMKG. Various channels have been provided by BMKG to make it easier for the public to access weather information, such as the BMKG official website channel, BMKG social media accounts, and the BMKG mobile info application.

About the anticipation of drought disaster, BMKG Deputy for Meteorology, Guswanto, in a statement received in Labuan Bajo also asked the public to be aware of the impact of drought.

"Save and use water wisely so that we can deal with the effects of drought due to drought together", he said, quoted by Antara.

Head of the West Manggarai Komodo Meteorological Station, Sti Nenotek, asked farmers not to clear land or open new land by burning to prevent forest and land fires.

He said the strong winds that still occur in parts of West Manggarai will cause fires to spread to other areas.

In addition, he said, strong winds and high waves also occurred in the waters.

Even though NTT has entered the dry season, Sti said that several points in the West Manggarai Regency are still experiencing light rains due to the La Nina phenomenon which is still active.

"So even though it is the dry season, there is still rain so far, especially in the West Manggarai highlands", he said.