Tech agency claims to have reduced rainfall by 40% by cloud seeding to ward off floods in Jakarta

The New Year’s floods in Jakarta inundated thousands of homes and buildings across the city, both in poor and wealthy neighborhoods. Photo: National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB)
The New Year’s floods in Jakarta inundated thousands of homes and buildings across the city, both in poor and wealthy neighborhoods. Photo: National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB)

As Jakarta recovers from the New Year’s floods, authorities have been working to reduce the amount of rainfall in the capital and its surrounding areas to prevent further catastrophe.

The Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) has reportedly been diverting rainfall from the Greater Jakarta Area by cloud seeding, which involves aircrafts spraying salt particles to accelerate precipitation, allowing rain to be redirected to the Sunda Strait, among other locations.

Since the New Year’s floods, BPPT says cloud seeding has managed to reduce rainfall by up to 40 percent in the Greater Jakarta Area.

“While it has continued to rain in Jakarta, the intensity has been reduced drastically thanks to the weather modification technology,” BPPT head Hamman Riza told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Tempo.

BPPT is expected to continue cloud seeding efforts in the coming weeks as the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) have warned that rainfall intensity is expected to pick up in the region, with peak rainfall expected around February.

The Greater Jakarta Area, as well as parts of Banten and West Java, saw the most intense rainfall since 2007 on New Year’s Eve, which continued well into New Year’s Day. According to data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), as of 6pm on Dec. 7, 67 people were killed by floods and landslides while over 13 thousand evacuees are still unable to return to their homes.

Related — Jakartans to launch class action lawsuit against Governor Anies Baswedan over handling of floods



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