July 9, 2024
JAKARTA – Authorities are scrambling to respond to a spate of disasters that has swept the country, including a deadly landslide in Sulawesi and flooding across several regions in Java that they believe has been precipitated by weather anomalies at the height of the dry season.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) forecast more anomalous torrential rain, thunderstorms and strong winds in most parts of the country, including Java and Sulawesi, in the coming days until Thursday, during the peak of what is normally the dry season.
The unusual heavy rain has been caused by the Madden-Julian Oscillation intraseasonal tropical climate variability, coupled with equatorial Kelvin and Rossby waves and warmer sea surface temperatures in waters around Indonesia that cause more clouds to build up in parts of the country, the weather agency said.
The Madden-Julian Oscillation is a sub-seasonal atmospheric phenomenon that influences tropical precipitation in an area. It moves eastward through the Indo-Pacific Ocean region and produces anomalous rainfall patterns.
“This atmospheric phenomenon triggers weather dynamics that result in downpours in most parts of Indonesia,” Guswanto, the deputy for meteorology at the BMKG, said in a press release recently.
Another BMKG official, Andri Ramdhani, warned people, particularly those living near rivers and in hilly areas, of possible flash floods and landslides after heavy rain.
At least 12 people died after a heavy downpour triggered a landslide in an illegal gold mine in Bone Bolango regency, Gorontalo, on Sunday, the latest in a string of hydrometeorological disasters that struck the country in the past week.
The torrential rain that occurred over the weekend weakened the structures of a hill in Tulabalo village, where people were digging for gold.
Gorontalo Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) head Heriyanto said authorities were still looking for 18 missing people buried under the rubble in Sumawa district on Monday.
“We have deployed 164 personnel, consisting of the national rescue team, police and military personnel, to search for the missing people,” Heriyanto said, as quoted from Reuters.
However, rescuers have been forced to walk about 20 kilometers to reach the landslide site and are hampered by thick mud covering the road and continuing rain in the area, according to Heriyanto.
“We will try to use an excavator once it’s possible,” he said.
Bone Bolango Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Achryl Babyonggo also said that the evacuation efforts were hampered by the remote location of the mine and the difficult terrain.
“The mine itself was located nine hours away from the capital of Bone Bolango regency. It’s also very hard to remove the bodies from the disaster location as it is located in a hilly area,” he said, as quoted from Kompas.id.
Achryl said that rescuers were in the process of rescuing some 5,000-7,000 miners who reside in the illegal mine as authorities feared another landslide may occur in the disaster-stricken village.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said the landslide also damaged several houses and one bridge.
Heavy rain since Saturday also triggered flooding in several neighborhoods in five other districts in Bone Bolango on Sunday, affecting almost 290 families, according to the BNPB.
The BNPB warned residents that rain is still expected in some areas in Gorontalo province on Monday and Tuesday, urging people to be alert in case of further incidents.
In the capital Jakarta, torrential rain coupled with strong winds have hit the city several times since Wednesday, causing traffic gridlock and inundating at least 48 neighborhood units (RT) over the weekend, with floodwaters up to 78 centimeters deep.
Heavy rain on Saturday also inundated parts of seven subdistricts in South Tangerang in Banten and caused a landslide that damaged one house in the municipality, which is located on the outskirts of Jakarta.
In West Java, a heavy downpour in Cirebon regency on Saturday caused at least five main rivers to overflow, inundating some 4,200 houses and 15 hectares of rice fields.
As many parts of the country entered the peak of the dry season, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo warned of drought and how it would affect food supply in case there is a prolonged dry season. (nal/ipa)