A Week 2 Of Karhutla, BPBD Asks Central Sulawesi Residents To Increase Vigilance

Illustration of BPBD officers extinguishing forest and land fires. (Antaranews) A

Central Sulawesi Province (Sulteng) Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) asked residents in the region to increase awareness of forest and land fires (karhutla) to anticipate the impact of El Nino phenomenon. "We ask the public to increase vigilance considering that in the past week there have been two land fires," said Central Sulawesi BPBD Chief Executive Akris Fattah Yunus in Palu, Sunday, August 27. He revealed that all regions in Central Sulawesi are forest and land-prone areas because this province is almost entirely located in mountainous areas and forests. Therefore, he said his party continues to coordinate with all relevant agencies in each district/city to optimize forest and land fire prevention in the face of El Nino phenomenon. "In dealing with forest and land fires during this dry season, BPBD has socialized the dangers of forest and land fires and provided education to residents during the changing climate of El Nino," he said. Akris said, in anticipating El Nino, Central Sulawes Governor Rusdy Mastura has issued an appeal to district/city governments to supervise and control, as well as carry out anticipatory steps against all burning activities of land clearing remains.

In addition, he conveyed that the Central Sulawesi BPBD had also issued an appeal to residents to anticipate land and forest fires related to the impact of El Nino. Residents are advised not to burn in clearing new agricultural land or plantations, because it can cause wider forest fires that will harm the wider community.

Lanjut dia, warga diharapkan tidak membuang puntung rokok sembarangan karena bisa menimbulkan percikan api dan berpotensi kebakaran."Bencana alam tidak ada yang tahu kapan akan terjadi sehingga kesiapsiagaan masyarakat dan personel BPBD kabupaten/kota harus selalu ditingkatkan," katanya.Sebelumnya, kebakaran lahan seluas 21,4 hektare terjadi di Kabupaten Poso dikarenakan warga ingin membuka lahan baru dengan cara dibakar pada Sabtu 19 Agustus. Dan kebakaran lahan terjadi di kawasan tempat pembuangan akhir (TPA) Kawatuna yang berada di Kecamatan Mantikulore, Kota Palu, Selasa 22 Agustus.