Cisarua Landslide Triggered by Extreme Rain, BMKG-BNPB Intensifies Weather Modification Operations

Head of the Bandung BMKG Teguh Rahayu during an interview with the media in Cisarua, West Bandung Regency on Thursday (29/1/2026). ANTARA/Ilham Nugraha

BANDUNG - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) together with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the West Java Provincial Government have intensified weather modification operations to reduce the potential for heavy rain around the Cisarua landslide location.

Head of BMKG Bandung Teguh Rahayu said weather modification operations had been carried out since January 24 and would continue in the future, especially in disaster-prone areas in West Java.

"Since January 24, BMKG together with BNPB and the West Java Provincial Government has carried out weather modification and until today it is still ongoing. Today we have made three flights around Mount Burangrang," said Teguh in Bandung, Thursday, January 29.

He explained, since the start of the weather modification operation, the total number of cloud seeding flights has reached more than 10 times.

According to Teguh, the intensity of weather modification operations has been increased because the West Java region is currently at the peak of the rainy season with the potential for very high growth of rain clouds.

BMKG noted that before the landslide in Cisarua, the area had experienced extreme intensity rain.

"A day before the incident, it was recorded that the rainfall was above 200 millimeters. The incident was extreme on the 23rd," said Teguh.

He said that the amount of rainfall was equivalent to the accumulation of rain that usually occurs during one month, but fell in just one day.

"It's like, the intensity of rainfall that should have fallen for a month, it only spilled in one day," he said.

BMKG emphasized that weather modification operations were carried out as a mitigation measure to reduce the potential for heavy rain that could aggravate the conditions of disaster-prone areas, especially in West Bandung Regency and its surroundings.