East Java Regional House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Deni\nWicaksono has urged Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa to strengthen\nmitigation of drought and forest and land fires. His call came after\nhundreds of thousands of residents were affected by drought and\nthousands of hectares of land burned during the 2026 dry season.<\/p>\n
He said disaster figures for the 2026 dry season should serve as a\nserious warning to the East Java Provincial Government. By early\nOctober, about 395,438 people in 24 districts and cities had been\naffected by drought.<\/p>\n
During the same period, at least 150 forest and land fire incidents\noccurred in 25 districts and cities. The area burned was estimated at\n9,540 hectares.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese figures are too large to be treated as an ordinary seasonal\nproblem. Nearly 400,000 people have been affected by drought and more\nthan 9,500 hectares of land have burned. This must be a warning. The\ngovernment needs to do more on mitigation; it must not wait until the\nwater runs out and forests burn before mobilising all its resources,\u201d\nDeni said in a written statement on Wednesday (21 October 2026).<\/p>\n
The East Java PDI-P regional board secretary praised the provincial\ngovernment\u2019s efforts to distribute clean water, carry out water-bombing\noperations and conduct weather modification. However, he said emergency\nmeasures needed to be matched by targeted prevention.<\/p>\n
The East Java Provincial Government declared an emergency alert for\ndrought and forest and land fires on 26 May 2026. Deni said the\ndeclaration had to be followed by preparedness in infrastructure,\npersonnel and equipment in disaster-prone areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn alert status must not remain an administrative label. It must be\nclear what is prepared before a disaster occurs, how many at-risk\nvillages have water reserves, and how many fire-prone locations have\nfirebreaks,\u201d Deni said.<\/p>\n
He urged the governor to bring together the Regional Disaster\nManagement Agency, the Forestry Agency, the Meteorology, Climatology and\nGeophysics Agency (BMKG), and district and city governments. The aim, he\nsaid, should be to produce an integrated risk map down to village level\nto guide the prioritisation of budgets and equipment.<\/p>\n
In drought-prone areas, the government should accelerate the\nconstruction of deep wells, small reservoirs and water-storage\nfacilities, and protect springs. In areas at risk of forest and land\nfires, it must ensure firebreaks are in place and trained firefighting\npersonnel are ready.<\/p>\n
Deni highlighted the close relationship between ecological damage\nfrom fires around Mount Bromo, Mount Arjuno and Mount Welirang and\nresidents\u2019 water security.<\/p>\n
\u201cForest and land fires do not end when the flames are extinguished.\nForests store water; if the upstream areas are damaged, people\ndownstream feel the effects,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He therefore called for a review of disaster-management spending in\nthe East Java provincial budget. The budget, he said, should allocate a\ngreater share to prevention and risk reduction rather than responding\nonly once an emergency has begun.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, PDI-P East Java has mobilised its local branches to assist\naffected communities. Hundreds of thousands of litres of clean water\nhave been distributed to Bojonegoro, Gresik, Nganjuk and Bangkalan.<\/p>\n
Party members have also been deployed to deliver supplies to\nforest-fire crews in mountainous areas. Nevertheless, Deni stressed that\ncommunity and party solidarity could not replace the government\u2019s full\nresponsibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity and party solidarity will continue. But the government has\nfar greater authority, funding, data and resources. That is why we are\nurging the Governor to lead this mitigation effort directly,\u201d he\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Deni also recalled a message from PDI-P chair Megawati Soekarnoputri\nabout party members serving as \u201cPandu Ibu Pertiwi\u201d (Scouts of the\nMotherland). He said the message was relevant to efforts to protect\nwater sources, forests and the environment.<\/p>\n
Deni said the government needed to set mitigation indicators that\ncould be assessed each year, including a reduction in the number of\nvillages facing water shortages, a decrease in the area affected by\nfires, and faster emergency response times.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur targets must be clear: in the next dry season, fewer villages\nshould face a water crisis, the area affected by fires should be\nsmaller, and response times should be faster. If the indicators do not\nchange from year to year, then our mitigation is not working,\u201d he\nconcluded.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/395-000-east-java-residents-affected-by-drought-deputy-speaker-urges-mitigation-1792561894", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }