Maria Fransisca Lahur, Jakarta – The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) announced that there is a decline in hotspots observed in six priority provinces during the second week of October 2023, from October 8 to 14.

"The [hotspots] decreased by 47.2% during the second week of October from 60,376 spots to 31,883 spots," said Abdul Muhari, the head of the Disaster Data, Information, and Communication Center of BNPB at the beginning of this week.

The six priority provinces are South Sumatra with 14,439 hotspots in the first week of October to 13,004 in the second week, Central Kalimantan with 30,702 in the first week of October to 12,551 in the second week, South Kalimantan with 7,636 and was reduced to 2,383, Riau with the increase from 697 to 1,702, Jambi with 978 to 1,442 in the second week of October, and West Kalimantan decreasing from 5,834 into 801 spots.

According to Muhari, the decline could be attributed to the significant clouds formed these past two weeks in Kalimantan. Despite the possibility of rain forming from these clouds, authorities still resume cloud seeding to ensure the rain. The modification method resulted in heavy rains on October 8 and 9, 2023.

Muhari explained that weather modification was also conducted outside of the six priority provinces, for example in NTT on October 8 to 12, West Java to control the fire in Sarimukti landfill, and Jakarta on September 3 to 27.

The El Nino phenomenon and positive IOD caused a drier dry season. This exacerbated wild fires due to a combination of extreme hot weather and strong winds. "Pass the 6 hour mark and it's difficult to control the fire effectively," he explained.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1785415/bnpb-hotspots-in-6-priority-provinces-decrease-by-47-