"Due to the current intense rainfall, IKN and other regions in East Kalimantan are highly susceptible to landslides and floods. Thus, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) will continue engineering the weather until September 12," Effendy remarked at his office in Jakarta on Monday.
The minister affirmed that BNPB had been collaborating with the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) to prevent weather-triggered disasters from lashing Indonesia's future capital city, consequently impeding the achievement of the set development targets.
"We are aiming to protect the IKN area from the risk of disasters that could hamper and disrupt the realization of our targets, including one concerning the development of an airport," the minister explained.
On the same occasion, BNPB Head Lieutenant General Suharyanto noted that the ongoing cloud seeding operations are conducted at the request of regional governments and the BMKG.
"We are undertaking weather modification in response to the requests of local governments and recommendation from the BMKG. The operations are meant to either reduce, divert, or instead trigger rain in a bid to reduce disaster risk and impacts," he stated.
Elaborating on the diversion, he admitted that the BNPB had been working to move rain clouds from one location to another.
"The rainfall rate is still high in East Kalimantan, leading to flooding and landslides in a number of locations. For that reason, we resort to weather modification to prevent rain from falling heavily in regions that are prone to floods and landslides," he stated.
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Translator: Lintang B, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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