BMKG: Indonesia Needs Nine Satellites to Monitor Natural Disasters

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) assessed that Indonesia needs nine remote sensing satellites for monitoring natural disasters throughout the archipelago.

“We need nine satellites to orbit without a break because Indonesia's territory is very large,” said BMKG Deputy for Instrumentation, Calibration, Engineering and Communication Network, Muhamad Sadly, in his online public lecture in commemoration of the 72nd World Meteorological Day in Jakarta, Tuesday, March 22.

According to Sadly, the Indonesian region has an immensely complex disaster threat that cannot be managed normatively. This is also coupled with the increasingly extreme weather events. Technology thus is necessary.

“When a disaster strikes, be it an earthquake, tsunami, or other hydrometeorological disasters, the communication system will collapse. We cannot use cellphone-based communication, let alone when a powerful earthquake hit as in Palu in 2018. So how can people save themselves if there is no reliable communication system?” Sadly added.

A microwave satellites expert from Japan’s Chiba University, Professor Josaphat Tetuko Sri Sumantyo, seconded Sadly's statement that Indonesia must have sensors given the location of regions at the equator and the rapid growth of clouds resulting in the potential for sudden hydrometeorological disasters.

Josaphat also suggested that Indonesia developed its own satellites according to its needs. If necessary, the technology should be more advanced than those belonging to other countries. He argued that the budget required for one satellite development is not too big at around Rp150 billion as he has ever created.

Read: Tropical Cyclone in Southern East Java May Lead to Extreme Weather, Warns BMKG

ANTARA