Drought Causes Extensive Damage In Java And Nusa Tenggara

JAKARTA, Sept 25 (Antara) - Lengthy drought this year has hit 2,726 villages in 105 districts, resulting in around 3.9 million people facing shortage in clean water supply in Java and Nusa Tenggara. Around 56,334 hectares of farm lands are without proper irrigation causing a scene of disaster with total harvest failure over 18,516 hectares of rice fields. In Central Java, 1.41 million people in 1,254 villages were stricken by severe dry season and the provincial administration had declared a situation of emergency until October. In West Java, drought hit 496 villages in 27 districts affecting 936,330 people. Eight district administrations have declared a situation of emergency including in the districts of Ciamis, Cianjur, Indramayu, Karawang, Kuningan, Sukabumi, Kota Banjar, and the city of Tasikmalaya. In East Java, 588 villages in 23 districts have also suffered badly as a result of severe dry season. In Nusa Tenggara drought has been a problem almost every year. In West Nusa Tenggara, 127,940 families of 640.050 people are suffering from shortage in water supply as drought hit 318 villages in nine districts including West Lombok, North Lombok, Central Lombok, East Lombok , Sumbawa, Dompu, Bima and the city of Bima. In East Nusa Tenggara, drought has caused worst scene of disaster with a situation of emergency has been announced in nine districts including Flores Timur, Rote Ndao, Timor Tengah Utara (TTU), Belu, Malaka, East Sumba, Central Sumba, Southwest Sumba and Sabu Raijua. In Yogyakarta, head of the Data and Information Center and Public Relations of the National Agency for Disaster Control (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 10 sub-districts in the district of Kulon Progo were suffering shortage in water supply. Around 12,720 people of 32 villages in the 10 sub-districts badly need aid in water supply, Sutopo said. In the province of Banten, and Bali, the authorities are studying the extend of damage caused by the long dry season, which has caused many river almost without water. Short term measure to cope with the situation is by sending clean water with tank trucks . The regional BNPB and other local authorities as well as volunteers have distributed millions of cubic meters of clean water to stricken areas. BNPB has also provided aid in fund to its regional units (BPBD). The government has also built artesian wells, water pipes, water reservoirs and dam but not enough to cope with the extensive damage caused by the drought every year. The authorities predicted that the dry season would last until the end of October. The Meteorology and Geophysics Office (BMKG) has said most Java is facing the worst impact of dry season before the rainy season in October-November, 2017. Rain is expected to begin to fall by the end of October to peak in December, 2017- February , 2018. President's Order President Joko Widodo has said the government has taken precautions to forestall the impact of drought in a number of areas in the country . The Head of State asked his ministers and heads of related agencies including governors to check the condition in the regions and immediately take the necessary steps. The president, however, said that he had received report from the Meteorology and Geophysics Office that the present drought is not as worse as in 2015 when the weather phenomenon El Nino caused devastating drought in a number of areas in the country. The president ordered to take short steps such as water and food supplies to stricken areas and long term steps by repairing and building water reservoirs. Earlier, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said the ministry would drill more artesian wells to forestall any disaster when the current drought reaches its worst in a number of areas in the country. "Under emergency situation, the government would drill deep wells," Basuki said after attending the annual scientific congress of the Indonesian Association of Experts in Groundwater(PIT PAAI) 2017 here earlier this month. He said there are around 6,900 artesian wells all over Indonesia including 488 wells for clean water and the rest for irrigation. Currently more artesian wells are being drilled in a number of areas known to be prone to lengthy drought such as in Pati, Central Java (two well) and Sukabumi in West Java (three wells) with water supplying capacity of up to 20 liters per second. "We also will drill wells in Sumbawa, East Lombok and West Lombok," the minister said. Basuki predicted drought in a number of areas would not last too long , saying according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics office rain would begin to fall in October 2017. Head of the district administration of Gresik Sambari Halim Radianto said his administration plans to dig 1,000 groundwater wells to cope with the impact of long drought in some areas in that district. "The plan is to build 1,000 wells in 914 villages in Gresik. At least one well in a village," Sambari said. He said building dams would not guarantee water supply as even dams would be dried of water under long drought. He said drought disaster has always threatened the northern East Java district every year, therefore, the district has to rely on groundwater to cope with crisis in water supply. Chief spokesman of the district administration Suyono said drought has hit Gresik every year, therefore, groundwater wells are needed to save the people from crisis in water supply. Despite reports of drought causing harvest failure in a number areas, Agriculture Minister Andi Amran Sulaiman pledges Indonesia would face no food scarcity at least until January 2018. In order to guarantee that there would be no food scarcity, farmers the country has to expand rice planting up to 1 million hectares, otherwise there is risk of shortage in food supply, the minister said. "If planting is only 500,000 hectares, certainly there would be shortage in food supply," he added. He said evaluation showed that 1 million hectares are needed for rice planting every season, adding in the past seasons planting averaged only 500,000 hectares. He said the agriculture ministry has evaluated that planting in the critical season of July-August-September reached 1 million hectares that "we are confident food stock would be safe and there would be no risk of scarcity." The Minister said he is optimistic Indonesia could go through the remaining months of this year without food shortage as was in 2016. He called on the country's farmers and related agencies to grow food crops in the remaining weeks of the planting season ending in September, to ensure that the country is safe from food scarcity. The minister said he was also optimistic that the impact of lengthy drought in parts of West Java could be forestalled with Jatigede dam functioning well. He said he was confident that three years of preparations including repairs of irrigation system and dams, and building water reserves have reduced the damage caused by long dry season. "We have distributed tens of thousands of water pumps building water reserves and digging water wells," he said. Based on report from the Protection Agency of Food Crops and Horticulture (BPTPH), in the period of January-August, 2017 drought hit 56,334 hectares of farm lands and harvest failure was recorded over 18,516 hectares of rice fields.