Antara News·Indonesia·Friday, October 23, 2026 at 04:43 AM UTC

Indonesia prepares for drought as El Niño delays rainy season

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M. Riezko Bima, Resinta Sulistiyandari

Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) is preparing mitigation measures as El Niño may delay the rainy season into early 2027.

"We continue to monitor and evaluate update of weather data provided by the BMKG regarding the potential for prolonged drought," BNPB official Berton Panjaitan said Thursday.

The agency, ministries and local governments are developing daily and weekly measures to control drought and forest and land fires.

Measures include "weather modification operations to increase the potential for rainfall by seeding NaCl and similar materials," Panjaitan said.

BNPB said firefighting has tackled burned areas of 7,938 hectares in Central Kalimantan, 1,974 in South Kalimantan, 1,290 in West Kalimantan, 5,194 in South Sumatra and 2,025 in Jambi.

The agency, local governments and nonprofits also distributed clean water to ease the drought's impact.

Central Java and Yogyakarta endured 131 days without rain, more than four months.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said El Niño influenced the conditions.

"We will continue to evaluate preparedness and mitigation, including determining the next step going forward," Panjaitan said.

BMKG Head Teuku Faisal Fathani earlier said the Pacific sea surface temperature anomaly hit +2.63 degrees, a very strong El Niño projected to last until early 2027.

BMKG forecasts a delayed rainy season start in most of Indonesia, covering 529 seasonal zones (ZOM), or 61.08 percent of Indonesia's land area.

The rains should arrive gradually from November 2026 in 185 ZOMs (24.66 percent) and December in 266 ZOMs (17.31 percent).

Accumulated rainfall in 510 ZOMs (69.76 percent) is predicted to remain normal despite the delayed start.

The rainy season peak is expected gradually: December 2026 in 155 ZOMs (36.94 percent), January 2027 in 162 (25.68 percent) and February 2027 in 190 (16.79 percent).

BMKG also predicts a shorter-than-normal rainy season in 482 ZOMs.

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