Nine regencies/cities in NTB on drought emergency alert

Mataram (ANTARA) - Nine regencies and cities in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) are currently on drought alert, with three of them under emergency response status.

The Head of the NTB Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Sadimin, stated that the NTB Provincial Government has declared a drought emergency alert status as the disaster continues to spread across the region.

“Nine regencies/cities have declared a drought emergency alert status, and three regencies have upgraded their status to emergency response,” he said in Mataram on Sunday.

According to data from the NTB BPBD, the temporary impact of the drought affects nine regencies/cities, 66 districts, 227 villages, and 84,837 families, or approximately 263,310 individuals. Meanwhile, the total amount of clean water distributed by district BPBDs and the NTB BPBD amounts to 3,382,300 litres.

“The entire NTB region has now entered the dry season, triggered by the El Niño phenomenon. The situation is exacerbated by increasingly prolonged days without rain,” explained Sadimin.

The most severe impact is occurring in East Lombok Regency, where 92,999 residents across 41 villages are affected, yet water distribution has only reached 40,000 litres.

In areas under emergency response status, West Sumbawa covers 3 districts and 8 villages, affecting 1,690 families (5,795 individuals) with 1.35 million litres of water distributed.

Furthermore, Sumbawa Regency involves 13 districts and 26 villages, affecting 10,703 families (42,728 individuals) with 640,000 litres of water distributed. Bima Regency covers 14 districts and 42 villages, affecting 9,222 families (28,894 individuals) with 320,000 litres of water distributed.

For areas under drought alert status, these include Central Lombok, involving 9 districts and 48 villages, affecting 11,232 families (33,695 individuals) with 460,000 litres of water distributed. Dompu Regency covers 4 districts and 10 villages, affecting 3,235 families (8,940 individuals) with 340,000 litres distributed.

North Lombok covers 5 districts and 18 villages, affecting 5,315 families (17,855 individuals) with 200,000 litres distributed. West Lombok covers 6 districts and 21 villages, affecting 7,474 families (27,090 individuals) with 32,300 litres of water distributed. Bima City involves 4 districts and 12 villages, affecting 1,129 families (3,287 individuals).

“On the distribution map, almost all of Lombok (except for a small part of Central Lombok) and most of the eastern and western parts of Sumbawa Island are in the red zone or Drought Action Plan,” he revealed.

In relation to this, Sadimin urged the public to be wise in using clean water to prevent a more severe crisis.

Previously, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) noted that the El Niño phenomenon is in a very strong category, with an index reaching 2.74 degrees Celsius, causing rainfall to be far below normal and almost non-existent in NTB.

“El Niño makes the usually dry season even drier. The potential for rain that usually occurs once during the dry season is now almost non-existent,” said the Forecaster of the NTB Climatology Station, Suci Agustiarini.