Year-substitution Holidays Under Extreme Weather Threats, BNPB Messages: See Conditions And Weather, Don't Compact!

Head of BNPB Suharyanto (Photo via BNPB)

JAKARTA - Head of BNPB Suharyanto gave an important note to people who want to celebrate New Year's Eve 2023 when Indonesia is now faced with potential extreme weather.

Suharyanto did not prohibit people from taking holidays and celebrating New Year's Day at tourist attractions. However, he stressed that residents must adjust tourist trips to weather conditions.

"It's okay to go on vacation. But, look at the weather, yes. Look at the conditions, don't force it," said Suharyanto at Graha BNPB, East Jakarta, Tuesday, December 27.

Suharyanto reflected on the earthquake in Cianjur, West Java on November 21. Not only destroying tens of thousands of houses, but the earthquake that occurred about 7 seconds also caused landslides and piled up dozens of people.

On that basis, Suharyanto appealed to the public to avoid lowlands if they were in the valley area.

"If you are in a low place, let's go to a height place. Including those who live in valleys, continue to rain successively, so leave their house. Meanwhile, they fled to their neighbors who happened to have a place or house that was not under the cliff," explained Suharyanto.

Previously, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) issued an early warning regarding the potential for rain with significant intensity during the period from December 25, 2022 to January 1, 2023 in several parts of Indonesia.

The potential for heavy to very heavy rain in the areas occurred in Banten, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali, NTB, NTT, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, and Maluku.

The areas that have the potential to experience moderate to heavy rain are Aceh, Lampung, South Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, North Maluku, West Papua, and Papua.

The increase in rainfall during the Christmas and New Year 2023 periods was caused by a number of atmospheric dynamics.

Among other things, the increase in Asian Monsoon activity which can significantly increase the growth of rain clouds in western, central and southern parts of Indonesia.

In addition, there is also an increase in the enthusiasm of Asian colds which can increase the speed of surface winds in the western and southern parts of Indonesia, as well as increase the potential for rain clouds around Kalimantan, Sumatra, Java, Bali, to Nusa Tenggara.

Another atmospheric dynamic is the indication of the formation of a low pressure center around Indonesia's southern waters which can trigger a fairly massive increase in convective cloud growth and have the potential to cause high intensity rain, increase in surface wind speed, and increase in the wave height around it.

Also, the monitoring of several atmospheric wave activities, namely the Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO) phenomenon which was formed in conjunction with the Kelvin and Equatorial waves, this condition contributed significantly to the increase in rainfall in several parts of Indonesia, especially in the central and eastern parts.