BNPB Recorded At Least 1,175 Natural Disasters During The Period 1 January-3 April

A number of residents of Betalemba Village, Poso Pesisir Selatan District, Poso Regency, Central Sulawesi Province through the flood/Photo: Antara

JAKARTA - The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported as many as 1,175 hydrometeorological natural disasters during the period from January 1 to April 3, 2022.

In an official statement received in Jakarta, Sunday, April 3, the dominant natural disasters are extreme weather, floods, and landslides. The natural disaster resulted in 80 deaths, 10 missing, 1.67 million people suffering and evacuated, and 605 people were injured.

BNPB detailed natural disasters caused by floods as many as 459 incidents, 428 due to extreme weather, 213 cases of landslides, 58 forest and land fires (Karhutla), nine earthquakes, and eight cases of tidal waves and abrasion.

The impact of the damage caused by these natural disasters caused 20,962 houses to be damaged, consisting of 3,505 heavily damaged, 3,919 moderately damaged, and 13,538 lightly damaged.

In addition, 568 public facilities were damaged, consisting of 365 educational facilities, 143 houses of worship, and 60 health facilities. The disaster also damaged 66 offices and 72 bridges.

Previously, the Acting Head of the BNPB Center for Disaster Data, Information and Communication, Abdul Muhari, asked the public to be vigilant considering that a number of regions in Indonesia had begun to enter the transition season.

"Several places in Indonesia have started to enter the transition season, where the main characteristics are dominated by extreme weather, be it strong winds with or without rain," he said as quoted by Antara.

He said extreme weather, tornadoes, and high-intensity rains of short duration still have the potential to occur until mid-April this year.

"But of course, it doesn't reduce our vigilance in some places where it is still possible to rain with high intensity in a long duration," he said.

In order to keep people's activities safe, he appealed to all Indonesian people to get used to seeing weather forecasts. If extreme weather occurs when we are doing outdoor activities, he asked the public to avoid large trees, billboards and large electric poles.

"Because this is a potential risk that can result in injury or fatality," he said.