August, All Regional Governments Asked To Anticipate Drought Due To The El Nino Phenomenon

Illustration of drought in NTT (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) appealed to all local governments (Pemda) to start taking anticipatory steps towards areas that have the potential to experience drought due to the El Nino phenomenon peaked in August 2023. El Nino is a deviation phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, its behavior is different from usual. Unfortunately, its behavior is not always the same every year, sometimes warmer than its normal, sometimes colder temperatures," said BMKG Climate Variability Analysis Coordinator Supari quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday 21 June. Supari said El Nino is a phenomenon of Marine Temperature Warming (SML) above its normal conditions that occur in the central Pacific Ocean, thereby increasing the potential of cloud growth and reducing rainfall in the territory of Indonesia that triggers drought.Normally, he said, the ocean temperature is in the range 26-30 degrees Celsius. In climate science is considered as a system, then when the temperature of the ocean changes, the atmosphere will change and that causes the climate in Indonesia to change. He said El Nino's chances began to occur in Indonesia to strengthen to 80 percent in June and peak August. Therefore, all parties must take anticipating drought, especially local governments with a low rainfall potential. For this reason Supari asked the public to start saving water in their daily activities. Meanwhile, local governments are expected to start optimizing the function of water resource infrastructure to ensure the reliability of reservoirs, reservoirs, retention ponds, and other artificial water storage, for the management of rainfall and use during the dry season. The next step is to prepare for potential forest and land fires (karhutla) because it is related to low category rainfall in the dry season of 2023. As an early warning form, since January 2023 BMKG has gathered experts through forum exposure from ITB, IPB, and BRIN. Then in February sending a letter to the President that La Nina 2022 has ended, then there is the prospect of El Nino in the second semester and urges Indonesia to prepare for the dry season.

In March, said Suparu, BMKG together with a number of related ministries/agencies have gathered to discuss the potential for subnormal rainy weather in a number of areas. Then in April there was a coordination meeting of Weather Modification Technology (TMC) and forest and land fires to confirm El Nino's potential, also sending letters to governors, especially in priority provinces that are often affected.. "Then on June 13, last week we sent a letter back to the President regarding the latest developments that El Nino's chances were strengthened and it was copied to the relevant ministries/institutions. In July, God willing, our plan will hold a coordination meeting on preparedness against El Nino," he said.