West Sumatra Provincial Government Modified Weather To Anticipate Volcanic Ash Marapi Eruption

Mount Marapi West Sumatra/DOCUMENTATION BETWEEN

The West Sumatra Provincial Government (West Sumatra) will carry out weather modifications in the form of artificial rain in order to anticipate the spread of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Marapi which has the potential to disrupt flight activities.

"The government continues to strive so that there are no flight disruptions during the Eid holiday by making artificial rain," said West Sumatra Governor Mahyeldi in Padang, Antara, Saturday, April 6.

He stated that he had assigned the Head of the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and the Transportation Service to immediately coordinate with the Air Force and Basarnas regarding the technical implementation of artificial rain.

Local governments have made a number of efforts related to the preparation of the homecoming flow and the 2024 Eid, including repairing damaged roads in Pesisir Selatan Regency due to floods and landslides, some time ago.

The government and other relevant agencies have fixed the railroad crossing in the Duku area, Padang Pariaman Regency, which has been causing traffic jams.

In addition, the implementation of a one-way system on the route from Padang City to Bukittinggi City and vice versa. This policy comes into effect from April 7 to 15, 2024. However, specifically on April 10, 2024, the one-way system was abolished.

"We hope that a number of policies or steps taken can unravel or prevent congestion during the Lebaran holiday," said Mahyeldi.

Executive General Manager of PT Angkasa Pura II BIM Indrawansyah Branch said that it continues to carry out paper tests every hour to ensure that all flights to and from the airport are safe from the threat of the spread of volcanic ash from Mount Marapi.

"We get monitoring from the Darwinian Australian Satellite and it is carried out every hour, we monitor so that all flights are safe," he said.

His party said that if the spread of volcanic ash had led or reached the airport, airport authorities would immediately stop flight activities until the threat of volcanic ash subsided.