As La Nina brings disaster, misery, demand for climate action grows by Fardah

 Jakarta, Feb 15, 2021 (ANTARA) - Hydrometeorological disasters, such as floods, landslides, and whirlwinds, have been simultaneously witnessed in several parts of Indonesia during the peak rainy season this year owing to the development of the La Nina phenomenon.

The phenomenon, which has been developing since late last year and has triggered heavier than normal rainfall, is likely to continue until March.

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), a total of 372 natural disasters have struck Indonesia since January this year and left 216 persons dead and 12,056 others injured.

The natural disasters comprise 227 floods, 66 whirlwinds, 60 landslides, seven earthquakes, seven high tides or abrasions, and four forest fires, according to BNPB data, updated as of February 9, 2021.

The data also indicates 4,452 homes have incurred serious damage, 5,336 houses have suffered moderate damage, 37,569 houses have incurred light damage, and 357,365 houses have been flooded, leading to the displacement of 1,769,309 people to safer areas.

The natural disasters have also destroyed 1,290 public facilities and left at least seven people missing.

The major disasters that have occurred in January this year include landslides in Sumedang, West Java, on January 9; a 6.2-magnitude earthquake in West Sulawesi on January 15; and, massive flooding in South Kalimantan, starting January 12.

In early January, torrential rains and unstable soil triggered a series of landslides in Sumedang, which left 19 people dead, 11 others missing, 18 injured, and displaced over one thousand local residents. Rescuers were also among the deceased.

INDONESIA BRACES FOR LA NINA-INDUCED HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL DISASTERS by Fardah

 

Jakarta, 23/10 , 2020 (ANTARA) - The onset of monsoons in most Indonesian regions in September have also triggered flooding in several provinces, including Jakarta, West Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, West Java, South Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and West Sumatra.

Indonesia, with monsoon and dry seasons, is prone to natural disasters, and usually some 75 percent of the disasters are hydrometeorological in nature, such as flooding, landslides, and strong winds.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) reported that during the period from January to Oct 17 this year, Indonesia had recorded 2,276 natural disasters.

The hydrometeorological disasters comprised 827 floods, 637 whirlwinds, and 416 landslides.

The disasters affected 4.5 million people, with 307 individuals losing their lives, 25 persons going missing, and 469 people sustaining injuries. In addition, the disasters caused light, moderate, to serious damage to 35,176 houses and 1,481 public facilities.

The agency also recorded a total of 321 forest and land fires and five volcanic eruptions over the period of time.

In connection with non-natural disasters, chiefly the COVID-19 pandemic, until Oct 23, Indonesia had reported 381,910 confirmed cases, and 13,077 COVID-19 patients had succumbed to the infectious disease.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has warned that La Nina natural phenomenon is currently developing until the end of this year, and its impact, notably rainfall, with high precipitation, will peak in January and February and gradually end in March and April 2021.

La Nina, known for causing torrential downpours and widespread flooding across the country, is expected to increase rainfall by nearly 40 percent throughout the country.

INDONESIA BRACES FOR LA NINA-INDUCED HEAVY RAINY SEASON by Fardah

  Jakarta, Jan 21, 2016 (Antara) - Indonesia was hit hard by the El Nino weather phenomenon last year and has been described by experts as one of the worst ever to be experienced in history.

        El Nino triggered a prolonged drought, caused crop failures, and led to forest, peatland, and plantation fires, particularly on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, in 2015.

        The fires ravaged over 2.6 million hectares of forest and peatland areas and produced toxic haze.  
   The environmental disaster impacted the health, education and livelihoods of millions of people on the two major islands of Indonesia as well as neighboring countries particularly Singapore and Malaysia.

        Early estimates of the total economic costs of the fires in 2015 in Indonesia alone exceed US$16 billion, according to the World Bank, which is helping to assess the costs of the fires and haze in a variety of sectors.

        Approximately 5 million students were impacted by school closures in 2015, a feature story entitled "Indonesia's Fires and Haze Crisis" posted on the World Bank website in November 2015 said.