Six Provinces Prone to Forest Fires During Dry Season and El Niño Threat

The head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Teuku Faisal Fathani, has revealed that six provinces are prone to forest and land fires (karhutla) during the dry season amid the threat of El Nino.

“Regarding forest and land fires, I mentioned earlier that there are six provinces that are the focus for all of us, namely Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, then West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan,” said Teuku after a limited meeting with President Prabowo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday (28/7).

As a precautionary measure, Teuku said the government is carrying out Weather Modification Operations (OMC) on a regular basis.

Beyond those six regions, the government is also applying OMC in the Riau Islands, Aceh, and several other locations on a situational basis.

Teuku explained that amid the El Nino phenomenon, the government is focusing on anticipating two things: first, the potential for forest and land fires, and second, drought.

To address the potential for drought, he said BMKG is conducting several weather modification operations in cooperation with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the private sector to fill reservoirs.

“Filling the reservoirs we have in Indonesia — we have 240 reservoirs. Some, though not all, we are trying to fill so they can be used for hydropower plants, irrigation, and clean water,” he said.

Teuku stated that Indonesia has now entered the category of a strong El Nino phenomenon.

He explained that El Nino can occur when sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean rise by more than 0.5 degrees.

According to him, once that condition is reached, Indonesia has entered the active El Nino category.

“At the moment, conditions have already entered strong El Nino territory,” he said.