Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) is keeping an eye on the dry season in the next three months of June, July, and August, estimated to head toward the peak of the 2023 dry season.
Dry hydrometeorological disasters have already dominated, though the number of incidents still fluctuates, Acting Head of the Data, Information, and Disaster Center at BNPB Abdul Muhari stated during the Disaster Briefing streamed on Tuesday.
It was recorded that until Monday, Indonesia had experienced some 1,300 disaster incidents and hotspots emerging from regions that experience the most number of incidents in Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.
However, Muhari explained that this year's dry season is different since within the last three years, Indonesia was affected by La Niña that brought rain clouds during the wet period.
Thus, on average, in every month, Indonesia has never truly experienced drought or relatively high temperature.
The occurrence of forest fires is also relative in nature, and even if they do occur, they would quickly burn out, as natural factors expedite this process.
"However, if we look at here, within five months of 2023, forest and land fires have already occurred 125 times," he pointed out.
"This means that much like what BMKG had said at the start of the year, which was repeated over and over by even the president, starting in 2023, we will experience a dry period," he remarked.
Dry season is estimated to occur within the next two to three years, so staying alert is necessary to prevent forest and land fire incidents that stood out, such as the ones in 2015 and 2019.
"We certainly have to truly anticipate the potential likelihood of forest and land fires," Muhari stated.
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