Jakarta (Antara NTT) - The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province is categorized as among the most arid regions in Indonesia due to which it is prone to severe drought that hits the province annually.
Currently, every district in the province has been hit by prolonged and severe drought since the past several months.
Springs have dried up in thousands of villages in the province`s 22 districts, and the local authorities have sought clean water supplies for the local inhabitants.
Last August, the Sabu Raijua district administration declared a severe drought emergency status, as the entire region had been affected by the extreme dry season.
Several district administrations are supplying clean water sufficient only for drinking and cooking but not for bathing and washing. The local villagers have to draw water from rivers for bathing and washing purposes.
The Kupang meteorology, climatology, and geophysics station has forecast that the rainy season in NTT will begin in late October and last until December 2017 for NTT.
There are several seasonal zones in NTT, according to Apolinaris Geru, head of the Kupang meteorology and climatology stations.
For seasonal zones in the districts of northern West Manggarai, Manggarai, East Manggarai, and northern Ngada in western Flores Island, the rainy season will begin in October 2017.
Western and southeastern West Manggarai District, southern Manggarai District, southeastern East Manggarai, southern and southeastern Ngada District, central Nagekeo District and western and southern Ende District, southern Sikka, southwestern East Flores, West and Southwest Sumba, western and eastern Central Sumba, central and southern East Sumba, northern and central Kupang, western South Timor Tengah, North Timur Tengah, and northern Belu lie in the seasonal zones where the rainy season will begin in late November.
Rainy season will begin in early December in the seasonal zone that covers Nagekeo, northen Ende, western and northern Sikka, northwestern East Flores, Adonara, Solor, Alor, Pantar, Lembata, northeastern and central Sumba, Sabu, Rote Ndao, Kupang Cith, western Kupang District, and South Timor Tengah.
Meanwhile, the Kupang Police have helped distribute clean water to the outermost regions, such as the Oeboa Village located in Kupang District.
Adjunct Commissioner Moris Ilu of the Kupang District Police confirmed recently that a water shortage in Oeboa Village has forced the police to supply clean water to the village.
Since August, wells have dried up in the village located on Semau Island, the outermost island of Kupang District.
Police personnel have also supplied clean water to the sub-districts of Semau and south Semau on the island on Sept 16 and 17.
The East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration needs at least Rp14 billion to address the prolonged drought affecting most villages in the province.
Tini Tadeus, head of the NTT disaster mitigation office, had stated in Kupang on September 28, 2017, that the NTT administration should seek allocation from the state budget every year to handle the drought, which always hits the province annually.
NTT had proposed the allocation of the funds to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. Several villages complained that they had not received drought emergency funds although the request had been made in August 2017.
The districts of Belu and Sikka have sought drought emergency funds. However, it will take more than 14 days for the Finance Ministry to disburse the funds, she said.
East Flores District on Flores Island had already requested for emergency funds and had received Rp500 million so far.
In response to the disaster, the central government has outlined precautionary measures to handle drought in some regions in Indonesia.
"I have urged all ministers and related institutions, as well as governors, to evaluate the condition in the field and take necessary precautionary measures to handle the drought," President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) noted, at the opening of a closed-door meeting to discuss drought countermeasures held at the Presidential Office in Jakarta, recently.
The president admitted to having received a report from the Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), indicating that the drought that hit Indonesia in 2017 would not be as bad as that in 2015, when the El-Nino phenomenon occurred.
"However, in some regions, no rains were received for more than 60 consecutive days or over two months. Parts of Java Island have borne witness to the peak of the drought season. According to the BMKG, most regions will receive rains by the end of Nov or Oct 2017," the president disclosed.
Jokowi added that the government has prepared long- and short-term precautionary steps to tackle the drought.
"With regard to short-term measures, I have ensured that clean water supply is available to people affected by the drought, and I want them to evaluate the irrigation system to supply water to farm lands in the affected areas," Jokowi added.
As for the long-term measures, the government will utilize several dams and water reservoirs that have been built in the past two years to tackle drought.
