In The Last 6 Months, 97 Disasters Occurred In Central Sulawesi And Were Dominated By Floods

Illustration of floods (ANTARA)

Central Sulawesi Province's Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) recorded 97 times that natural disasters occurred in the region during the period January 1 to July 12, 2023. Head of the Emergency and Logistics Division of Central Sulawesi Province Andy A. Sembiring said that natural disasters were dominated by floods. "The area experienced the most natural disasters, namely Poso Regency with 16 incidents and was dominated by floods, namely 11 times," said A. Sembiring quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, July 13. He explained that of the 97 natural disasters, as many as 58 events of floods, 9 events of coastal abrasion disasters, two events of forest and land fires, 19 incidents of tornadoes and 9 landslides. These natural disasters, he said, resulted in as many as 235 people being displaced, two people died and three people were injured. In addition to causing casualties, he said, residents' houses as well as public facilities were also affected by natural disasters. "As many as 22 houses were heavily damaged, 59 houses were moderately damaged and 360 houses were lightly damaged," he said. Meanwhile, public facilities also suffered damage, namely 31 educational facilities, 27 health facilities, four offices, and 10 bridge units. He said it was important to strengthen mitigation independently, because disasters are difficult to predict. Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicts that Central Sulawesi Province will still have the potential to be hit by extreme weather in the next week due to the growth of convection clouds or rain clouds above the sea of Central Sulawesi. Head of BMKG Class II Meteorological Station Pratiara Sis Al-Jufri Pal Nur Alim said although a number of regions in Indonesia began to experience a drought from the impact of El Nino, Central Sulawes actually there was still rain with moderate to heavy intensity.

As the results of today's weather forecast data update, BMKG has set a alert status for nine regions in Central Sulawesi within the next two days, namely Morowali Regency, North Morowali, Banggai, Poso, Tojo Una-una, Parigi Moutong, Sigi, Donggala, and Palu City. "In this condition, vigilance needs to be increased in responding to this phenomenon, as well as areas that have a history of hydrometeorological disasters, especially riverbank areas, in anticipation of the impact of flooding, landslides in slope areas or strong winds or tornadoes," he said.