Dry season to start next month: BMG
Dry season to start next month: BMG
A. Junaidi, Jakarta
The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) announced on Friday
that the dry season would start next month and peak in August,
causing drought in many parts of the country.
"We predict that the dry season will last for three months,"
BMG head Gunawan Ibrahim said at a press conference here on
Friday.
Gunawan said this year's drought would not be as severe as
last year's since the El Nino phenomenon would not take place
this year.
According to Gunawan, drought would hit many parts of East
Java and some parts of Central Java, West Java, Aceh, South
Sumatra, Lampung Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara,
East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi and southeastern Maluku.
He revealed that the worst drought could be expected in the
regencies of Jember and Bangkalan in East Java, Tangerang in
Banten, Bekasi in West Java, Gunung Kidul in Yogyakarta and
Jepara in Central Java.
"While drought will hit those regencies, rain will fall in
some parts of the country including some parts of Sumatra,
Kalimantan and North Sulawesi," he said.
Acting coordinating minister for people's welfare A. Malik
Fadjar said the dry season would also reduce the volume of water
in 58 dams across the country.
"We will conduct cloud seeding in some parts of Java and
Sumatra and provide water trucks, as well as help people to make
wells in anticipation of the drought," Malik said.
He said the government would provide 30 kilograms of free rice
per month for poor families and manual work with a daily wage of
Rp 15,000, including repairing irrigation facilities, for the
unemployed.
He said the government would also provide free medicine at
community health centers since health problems, such as stomach,
skin and respiratory diseases, commonly occurred during the dry
season.
"We hope the situation will not be exploited by presidential
candidates for their own interests," he said.
The country will conduct its first direct presidential
election on July 5 and a possible runoff on Sept. 20.
Five candidates -- Wiranto, Megawati Soekarnoputri, Amien
Rais, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Hamzah Haz -- are contesting
the July 5 direct presidential election.
According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, several
farming areas in the country have suffered drought since January
this year. Some 447 hectares of farmland were affected by drought
in March, 960 hectares in April and 786 hectares in May.
Two years ago, some 80,000 hectares of farmland across the
country suffered crop failure due to drought while last year,
30,000 hectares of farmland was affected.