BMKG: East Nusa Tenggara Threatened by Potential Drought
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reminded the people of East Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT) to anticipate potential drought disasters also forest and land wildfires (karhutla) that will occur in the dry season in 2022.
"What needs to be anticipated is the potential for dry hydrometeorological disasters such as drought and land forest fires," said the Head of the BMKG Center for Public Meteorology, Fachri Radjab, when contacted from Labuan Bajo (19/7/2022). He said residents can anticipate droughts by saving water, not burning land or doing activities that have the potential to cause fires.
Fachri also asked the public to actively monitor weather information from the BMKG. Various channels have been provided by BMKG to make it easier for the public to access weather information, such as the BMKG official website channel, BMKG social media accounts, and the BMKG info mobile application.
In relation to the anticipation of drought disaster, BMKG Deputy for Meteorology, Guswanto, in a statement received in Labuan Bajo also asked the public to be aware of the impact of drought. "Save and use water wisely so that we can deal with the effects of drought due to drought together," he said.
Head of the West Manggarai Komodo Meteorological Station, Sti Nenotek, asked farmers not to clear land or open new land by burning to prevent forest and land fires. Even though NTT has entered the dry season, Sti said that several points in the West Manggarai Regency are still experiencing light rains due to the La Nina phenomenon which is still active. "So even though it is the dry season, there is still rain so far, especially in the West Manggarai highlands," he said.
