Bali Declares Drought Emergency Status for Two Weeks

Bali – Bali Acting Governor Sang Made Mahendra Jaya on Thursday declared emergency status on the island for two weeks in response to the recent fire and drought conditions.

"By looking at the development of the existing situation, for community preotection, improving preparedness, and easing access, we agreed to establish an emergency status for the next 14 days, starting today," Jaya revealed on Thursday.

Jaya said that the Bali administration is striving to expedite steps to extinguish fires that are currently happening, "It also continues to distribure aid to areas experiencing clean water crises due to drought,"

According to the regulations, Jaya added, the determination of emergency status is the lowest escalation, "So, we can mobilize (disaster addresing) easier and give space for support,"

At the coordination meeting with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Chief of the Bali Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) I Made Rentin requested more tools needed for handling the drought during the emergency status.

He also requested BNPB's assistance in applying weather modification technology to produce artificial rain in Bali.

Based on the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency's (BMKG's) data, three sub-districts in Bali Province had received no rains for 94 days in a row.

"They are Kubu Sub-district, Karangasem District, Kubutambahan in Buleleng District, and Gerokgak in Buleleng. The weather modification technology is urgent to be carried out in Bali," Rentin remarked.

In response to the request, Chief of BNPB Suharyanto stated that Bali should submit the proposal for additional equipment soon.

Suharyanto also promised to deploy the air fleet that will conduct weather modification, though he said they are still being used in other regions experiencing disasters, such as Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Riau.

He considered it crucial to promptly handle disasters in Bali since it is the location for several international events.