20 Provinces in Indonesia Affected by Drought: BNPB

Jakarta (Antara) - Twenty provinces in Indonesia have been affected by drought due to the current dry season and low rainfall, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB). To deal with the situation, BNPB has allocated Rp50 billion for relief operations in the regions affected by drought, including providing water tanks and pumps as short-term measures, the agency's spokesman, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, reported here on Wednesday. Until now, the provinces that have received aid include West, Central, and East Java; Yogyakarta; West and East Nusa Tenggara; South Sumatra; and Southeast Sulawesi. Sutopo stated that in Java, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara, the situation has been worsened by deficit in water supply because of drought, which has been occurring since 1995. "In 2000, water requirement in Java had reached 83 million cubic meters per year, but the region could only provide around 30 million cubic meters, which is certainly insufficient," he noted. As a long-term effort to handle the situation, Sutopo said BNPB has appealed to the government for improvement of river flows and dams, as well as land and water conservation. He added that unless efforts are taken, deficit in water supply is believed will worsen because of increasing population, environment degradation, and climate change. (*) Reported by Roy Rosa Bachtiar