Forest And Land Fires In Riau, 8 Tons Of Salt Sprinkled By The Indonesian Air Force For Weather Modification

Illustration of forest fires (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The ranks of the Indonesian Air Force are working with the Riau Provincial Government to anticipate forest and land fires (Kaharhutla) by holding a weather modification operation (OMC), starting last Wednesday.

This rain reduction operation is considered by the Indonesian Air Force to be very necessary because the dry condition makes it a large land and forest drought so that it can easily trigger fires.

"OMC cannot be interpreted literally as a job to make rain, because this technology seeks to increase and accelerate the fall of rain," said Air Base Commander Roesmin Nurjadin, Marsma TNI Feri Yunaldi, quoted by ANTARA, Friday, June 27.

In the press release, the method used in OMC is to distribute particles that contain salt to the cloud using an airplane.

The particle content that is distributed will trigger the formation of water grains so that rain can fall quickly.

Thus, as a large area, the forest and dry land in Riau will be wetted by rain so that the potential for fires can be reduced.

However, Feri did not explain how much forest area in Riau could potentially occur in Kaharhutla.

Furthermore, Feri said this operation was not only carried out by the Indonesian Air Force and the Riau Provincial Government but also involved the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the Peat and Mangrove Restoration Agency of the Republic of Indonesia, Ministry of Environment (KLHK).

With this collaboration, Feri hopes that the prevention of Kaharhutla in the Riau region can be carried out optimally. He also admitted that he would always be ready to be involved in efforts to handle Kaharhutla in the Riau region.