Indonesia’s flood warning to get a boost

Today there was an announcement about how Indonesia’s hydrologic monitoring system is going to get a major expansion.

Translated from Indonesian, “The flood early-warning system made ​​by Center for the Department of Public Works (PU) will soon be installed in 113 major rivers and dams in Indonesia.” …said Deputy Minister of Public Works, Hermanto Dardak, in London, Wednesday (2/5). Installation of early warning system equipment will be done nationally. A number of major rivers in Java would be a priority, such as Ciliwung, Citarum, Solo, and Cisadane. …“In addition to the early warning tools, we will also rehabilitate a number of streams to reduce the risk of flooding," he said. Head of Center for Public Works, Bambang Hargono, said the warning system was in development since 2006 and put into use last year.“

Last fall I went to Indonesia and wrote about meeting an observer involved with monitoring and flood early warning systems in Jakarta and have images of some of his equipment. All this was while we were trying to find the dirtiest spot on the dirtiest river in the world, and talk to some of the villagers that live along it. The most popular post on this blog is the one with photographs of the garbage. My main host during the visit was PUSAIR, the group that helped develop the flood early warning technology mentioned in the news release. Indonesia is also an adopter of Deltares’ FEWS (Flood Early Warning System), the same river forecasting software used by the US National Weather Service and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. 

Thanks to Indonesian flood forecasting research scientist Segel Ginting for the link!