Facing Drought, Jakarta Provincial Government Ready to Conduct Cloud Seeding
The Jakarta Provincial Government (Pemprov DKI Jakarta) has stated it is ready to handle the potential for drought during the dry season, including by conducting weather modification operations (OMC), or artificial rain, if necessary.
Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung said his administration is prepared to coordinate with the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to manage conditions throughout the dry season, including carrying out weather modification operations to induce rain over Jakarta if needed.
“Until now we have been managing the rain so that it does not fall, but in due time, if it is truly necessary, the Jakarta Provincial Government will manage it so that it does rain,” he said in the Bundaran HI area on Wednesday (29/7/2026).
He noted that Jakarta has had no rain for almost three weeks, resulting in drought in a number of areas.
Even so, he said, drought has in fact occurred more widely in areas surrounding Jakarta. However, he believes drought in the surrounding regions will inevitably have an impact on the capital.
“What matters most is that the drought is actually occurring above Jakarta, but of course this also affects Jakarta. What is clear is that we are ready to carry out this (weather modification),” said Pramono.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Jakarta Provincial Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Marulitua Sijabat, said that so far no areas in the capital have experienced drought. Nevertheless, his agency will continue to monitor conditions in the field.
“Based on our data, no areas have experienced drought so far. We continue to monitor all areas across Jakarta and issue early warnings as a mitigation measure against potential disasters that may arise during the current dry season,” he said when contacted by Republika on Wednesday (29/7/2026).
Previously, the BMKG stated that it had not yet been able to conduct weather modification operations to address the drought affecting several regions of Indonesia, as the success of such operations depends on the availability of seedable rain clouds.
Supari, head of the BMKG’s Monthly Prediction Working Group, said weather modification is one mitigation effort to reduce the impact of drought, but its implementation must meet a number of requirements.
According to him, the effectiveness of weather modification operations depends heavily on the timing of implementation, the availability of rain clouds, and the correct determination of seeding locations and times. “The main principle is that weather modification cannot ‘create’ rain from a clear sky,” Supari told Republika on Saturday (18/7/2026).
He explained that weather modification can only increase the chance of rain when there are still developing rain clouds with sufficient water content to be seeded. “That is why during a dry dry season, weather modification actually cannot be carried out because there are no cloud seeds available for seeding,” said Supari.