BNPB Reports 23,000 Residents Affected by Drought, West Java Hardest Hit

The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has revealed that drought has struck 13 provinces across Indonesia. BNPB is preparing a series of measures to address the impact of the drought on community activities.

Based on BNPB data as of mid-July, the highest number of drought hotspots is in Central Java with 15 points, followed by West Java (13 points), East Java (6 points) and West Nusa Tenggara (4 points).

“In total there are 51 drought hotspots with 23,937 affected residents,” said Abdul Muhari, Head of BNPB’s Disaster Data, Information and Communication Centre, told Republika on Thursday (16/7/2026).

Abdul explained that Indonesia is currently experiencing the dry season as a result of the El Nino phase. The agency has taken note of the situation and is preparing an alert phase ahead of emergency response.

“So what we prioritise to strengthen the steps taken by BNPB is, first, conducting weather modification operations (OMC) provided there are sufficient rain clouds,” said Abdul.

According to Abdul, the OMC is intended to weten upstream areas in order to refill catchment areas. This will eventually benefit residents’ wells, as well as replenishing reservoirs, retention basins and lakes whose water volumes may have declined due to the dry season.

“But once again, this is highly dependent on the availability of rain clouds, as in the case of the Jatiwaringin landfill fire last Sunday, where BNPB prepared its weather modification fleet but could not carry out operations due to the absence of sufficient rain clouds,” said Abdul.

In addition, BNPB has been building borehole wells as part of its preparedness efforts in areas that historically face water shortages or suffer recurrent drought disasters.

“These are generally built in East Nusa Tenggara, West Nusa Tenggara, East Java, Central Java, Sumatra of course, and other areas that historically experience recurrent drought and have reported this to BNPB,” said Abdul.