Nurfika Osman

New Radars To Boost Weather Forecasting

The national weather agency announced plans on Monday to spend up to Rp 90 billion ($9.5 million) upgrading and building nine radar stations across the country to improve its forecasting abilities.

Widada Sulistya, a director at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said the spending spree was necessary to improve the accuracy of weather predictions and to detect possible weather-related disasters.

He said improving the accuracy of weather forecasts had already paid dividends at specific locations in the country.

The installation of weather stations at airports, Widada said, had helped prevent accidents as a result of unexpected high winds. And in the mountains surrounding Jakarta, the ability to predict rain had provided early flood warnings for the capital.

Widada said the radar stations would be connected to regional crisis centers and weather forecasts would also be distributed directly to related agencies, such as the Ministry of Transportation.

He said radars would be built in five new areas, which he identified as Jayapura in Papua, Ambon in Maluku, Bima in West Nusa Tenggara, Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan and Pondok Betung in Banten.

Another four existing radars will be upgraded in Medan, North Sumatra; Palembang, South Sumatra; Balikpapan, East Kalimantan; and Makassar, South Sulawesi.

“We plan to have 38 stations in the future, but that will depend on the allocation of funds from the government,” Widada said.

BMKG spokesman Edison Gurning said one new radar cost up to Rp 10 billion.

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