VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) estimates that this year's dry season will peak in August to early September. Associate Officer for Meteorology and Geophysics Observer, BMKG Tangerang Class 1 Geophysics Station, Maria Evi Trianasari said this, quoted by Antara, Tuesday (8/8).

Maria Evi Trianasari explained, the El Nino index in July 2023 reached a moderate level. Meanwhile, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) has entered a positive index level. The El Nino phenomenon and positive IOD reinforce each other in worsening the situation. The El Nino phenomenon causes drought.

Meanwhile, the IOD phenomenon causes reduced rainfall. As a result, it is predicted that there will be a more severe drought compared to previous years. For Indonesia, this phenomenon has the potential to disrupt national food security, due to the threat of crop failure on rainfed agricultural land.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said that as a measure to mitigate the impact of El Nino, the government has targeted the government's rice reserves to be above 2.2 million tonnes by the end of 2023.

However, the problem of a very dry drought is not only a matter of crop failure and food shortages. Several regions in Indonesia have started to lack clean water for drinking and daily needs. In addition, forest and land fires are also a threat.

Hundreds of hotspots have started to be seen, especially on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. Forest and land fires can result not only in fire disasters, but also in smoke disasters whose impact is much wider than the fire itself. The smoke from forest fires can even be felt by neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. This happened several years ago.

To deal with this disaster requires the vigilance of all parties. Indeed, the government stated that it had prepared anticipatory steps in dealing with the food crisis, clean water crisis and forest and land fires. However, disaster management cannot only rely on the government.

Public vigilance is no less important. The government is expected to prepare the community to face disasters caused by drought. Training on dealing with forest and land fires needs to be provided down to the village level throughout Indonesia. People are also accustomed to using clean water wisely and sparingly. Hopefully this very dry drought will pass soon.