West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil has prohibited schools in his region from holding all types of outdoor activities in proximity to water sources, such as rivers, waterfalls, beaches, and lakes, during the rainy season.
“Amid the extreme rainy weather like this, there should be no outdoor activities (near) water. It does not matter if the outdoors are dry. (However), those related to rivers, waterfalls, or involving large number (of participants) should be lessened,” Kamil stated here on Tuesday.
He pointed out that the extreme weather, currently occurring in the West Java region, has the potential to cause hydrometeorological disasters, such as floods and landslides.
Hence, Kamil urged schools to immediately halt outdoor activities in areas where water sources are present for ensuring the safety of students.
“The incidents that took place in Bogor (City) and in Bogor District must be evaluated. I have ordered (the activities) to be postponed until the weather is relatively better because the safety of school students is far more important than anything else,” he stated.
According to the governor, the current weather conditions are very dynamic due to climate change that has caused heavy precipitation in recent weeks.
“The issue is global warming. The weather is increasingly difficult to predict, as last August, when the dry season should have started, Garut District was flooded, and (this dynamic weather condition) equally occurs on all islands in Indonesia,” he explained.
Earlier, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) had urged local governments in West Java to take precautionary and mitigatory measures in areas prone to hydrometeorological disasters, such as floods, flash floods, and landslides.
On Tuesday, the BMKG also reported that moderate to heavy rains with strong winds could occur in most parts of Indonesia, including some of West Java’s regions, such as Bogor, Depok, Bekasi, Sukabumi, Bandung, and Tasikmalaya.
Source: Antara News