Jakarta, IO – The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) has declared an emergency alert status warning about land and forest fires as well as drought in seven provinces.
BNPB head Suharyanto said the seven provinces are Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). He revealed that until June 1 there had been 112 incidents in Indonesia.
“It is predicted that the intensity of forest and land fires will be greater than in the last three years,” said Suharyanto, reported Katadata, Wednesday (7/6).
Suharyanto said the fires that occurred in score of forests and land were caused by El Nino. As Indonesia is about to enter the dry season, the agency will focus on prevention efforts.
A number of steps have been taken, including handling dry hydrometeorological disaster emergencies caused by extreme weather events.
Read: Buddhist Village In Remote Part Of Ponorogo
In addition, BNPB together with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the National Armed Forces (TNI) are also working on Weather Modification Technology operations as an anticipatory measure to reduce the potential of wildfires. (un)