Hailstorm Hits 3 Districts in Lanny Jaya, Papua Highlands, Causing Damage and Threatening Crop Failure
The Lanny Jaya Regency administration in Papua Highlands Province has officially formed an Emergency Response Team to handle the impact of a hailstorm that struck the region. The disaster has reportedly damaged community farmland in three areas: Kuyawage, Wano Barat, and Goa Baliem districts.
Lanny Jaya Regent Aletinus Yigibalom stated that the team’s formation was a rapid response after the local government received official reports of the hailstorm phenomenon that occurred on the night of 16 August 2026.
“We received community reports of a hailstorm disaster, so I asked the heads of regional apparatus organisations to immediately collect data as a basis for mitigation policy,” Aletinus said in a press release in Jayapura on Thursday (20/8).
Aletinus explained that this hailstorm had different characteristics and a more destructive impact compared with previous occurrences. The phenomenon not only caused physical damage to crops but also resulted in total crop failure for most of the community’s agricultural produce.
“Because the impact of this hail is different from before, not merely frost, but it destroyed crops to the point where they cannot be harvested,” he stressed.
Given the severity of the impact, the Emergency Response Team will be led directly by Assistant II of the Lanny Jaya Regional Secretariat. The team involves the Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) and several relevant regional apparatus organisations.
The team has been mandated to conduct detailed data collection on the extent of damage, coordinate with various stakeholders, and formulate short-term and long-term handling measures.
The damage to farmland is feared to disrupt food security for the people of Lanny Jaya for up to one year. Therefore, the Lanny Jaya Regency administration is hoping for support from the provincial and central governments.
“Crops are damaged, agriculture has failed. Therefore, we need full support from the Papua Highlands Provincial Government and the Central Government through BNPB and the Ministry of Social Affairs. The team must work quickly, accurately, and report results in a hierarchical manner,” Aletinus concluded.