"For all parties, please save water. If rain is still falling in some areas, please harvest it (rainwater) immediately. Several groups in regions that have conducted rainwater harvesting, please continue it," BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati said at a press conference on El Nino development, which was followed online on Tuesday.
She informed that based on an analysis by the BMKG, as many as 28 percent or 194 seasonal zones in Indonesia are currently entering the dry season, including Jakarta.
Karnawati further said that the areas include the eastern part of Aceh, the eastern part of North Sumatra, eastern Riau, southern Bengkulu, southern Lampung, northern Banten, and the northern part of West Java.
They also include some areas in Central Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, Maluku Islands, and North Maluku.
"Not all have entered the dry season. However, later in July, August, September, the (number of) areas will increase," she added.
She explained that the factors that are causing Indonesia's regions to experience a dry season, which could trigger drought, are two climatic phenomena that are occurring simultaneously, namely, El Nino and the positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).
"The impact of the two phenomena is reduced rainfall in some parts of Indonesia. Some parts of Indonesia will even experience drier rainfall below normal," she said.
El Nino is controlled by sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean, while IOD is controlled by sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean, she explained.
According to Karnawati, the two phenomena occurred at the same time in 2019, too.
"The two are currently leading to conditions that make Indonesia drier, so they mutually strengthen these conditions," she added.
She said that the same impacts that were observed in 2019 are expected to recur starting from the second half of 2023.
"Thus, all parties please intensify anticipatory measures in regions that are predicted to face dry conditions or low rainfall that can cause drought and land and forest fires or other follow-up impacts," she added.
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Translator: Zubi Mahrofi, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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