Govt warns of peak in severe drought this month

Govt warns of peak in severe drought this month

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

This year's drought, which peaks this month, is likely to be more
severe than last year's, with equally severe consequences,
government officials have warned.

"We urge people to save water in anticipation of water
shortages," Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) forecasting
and services subdivision chief Achmad Zakir told The Jakarta Post
on Monday, adding that the severe drought would particularly hit
provinces south of the equator this year.

The equator runs from west to east, crossing Sumatra just
north of the town of Payakumbuh, to Pontianak in Kalimantan and
on to a point just to the north of Manokwari, Papua. Java and
Bali, as well as the Nusa Tenggara islands all lie to the south
of the equator.

Most parts of Banten in West Java, Central Java, eastern parts
of East Java, most of West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara
were among the provinces hardest hit by the drought, Zakir said.

He said this year's drought to the south of the equator was
more severe than last year's due to very strong, dry winds from
Australia.

"We have seen hardly any rainfall in the last four months, and
when it has fallen, it has only lasted 10 minutes," he said.

Zakir also said temperature would increase to 33 to 34 degrees
Celsius, from 31 to 32 degrees in the normal dry season.

Zakir urged local governments in rural areas to start building
small dams to hold falling rain in the upcoming rainy season. The
dry season normally runs from April to October, while the rainy
season is from November to March.

Health officials have warned of stomach, skin and respiratory
diseases, all of which commonly break out in the dry season.

In the Central Java capital city, Semarang, patients with
respiratory problems at Karyadi Hospital have increased to 20 per
day, from only five to six under normal circumstances, Antara
reported on Monday.

"People must also be aware of diarrhea, skin diseases, eye
irritation and respiratory problems," Director General of
Communicable Disease Eradication Umar Fahmi Ismail said.

State electricity company (PLN) spokesman Muljo Adji said that
the drought would affect PLN's 18,608-megawatt (MW) power supply
in the Java-Bali interconnected grid, but alternating blackouts
were not anticipated.

The hydropower plants in Java and Bali produced 2,536 MW, or
about 14 percent of the two island's total power supply;
reductions in generating capacity from these sources would be
covered by others like gas- and coal-fired power plants, he said.

As of July, drought had affected 80,679 hectares of paddy
field in 29 regencies or municipalities in Central Java, head of
the Central Java Agricultural Agency Soekarno said.

Some 16,465 hectares of affected paddy field had suffered crop
failure, he added.

Central Java has about 1.6 million hectares of paddy fields
and is expected to produce 8.46 million tons of rice this year.

The Post reported over the weekend that in Gunung Kidul,
Yogyakarta, drought had hit 94,000 people as they could not
afford to buy potable water.

In Kulonprogo regency, the water shortage has reached 18
villages in the districts of Kokap, Girimulyo, Kali Bawang and
Samigaluh. The villages are situated on Menoreh mountain.

In the West Java regency, Cirebon, drought has substantially
reduced the tap water supply to 3,000 houses, with customers in
Kapetakan, Gegesik, Arjawinangun and Beber districts being worst
affected.

In Sukabumi, West Java, several farmers said on Sunday they
were still able to harvest rice and corn, but were unable to
continue planting their fields due to the severe drought.