East Java Provincial Government and BNPB Prepare Drought Anticipation Measures

Surabaya (ANTARA) - The East Java Provincial Government (Pemprov Jatim) together with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) is preparing anticipation measures for drought in the local area following predictions from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) regarding a prolonged dry season. “We are conducting coordination, and we are grateful that the Head of BNPB is present directly with the team, Class I Juanda BMKG, and the East Java National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas). Today there is still flooding, but starting in April there is potential for drought,” said East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa in Surabaya on Friday. According to Khofifah, this condition is a serious concern given that East Java is the national food barn, thus requiring strategic steps to maintain agricultural production, especially rice which depends on water availability. “Preparing deep wells for rice field irrigation is important so that the crop index does not decrease, because food security is a national need,” she stated. Meanwhile, BNPB Chief Lieutenant General TNI Suharyanto stated that local and central governments are increasing readiness to face dry hydrometeorological disasters, such as drought and forest and land fires. “Indonesia is very vast; while some areas are still flooded, in other regions like Riau, forest and land fires have already occurred. Therefore, readiness must be increased,” he said. He added that disaster handling is carried out collaboratively, from the village level to the central government, including strengthening ground task forces (Satgas) for initial fire handling. In addition, BNPB together with local governments is also preparing water provision measures, such as building wells, distributing water from the nearest sources, to the possibility of weather modification operations (OMC). BNPB will also standby water-bombing helicopters at several strategic points in East Java, such as at Iswahjudi Air Base in Madiun and Juanda in Surabaya, to accelerate handling if forest and land fires occur. “The peak of the dry season is predicted to occur in August 2026. We are preparing all needs, including water-bombing helicopters according to field conditions,” said Suharyanto.