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URAKARTA: Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono has urged local administrations across Indonesia to optimize weather-related information and data provided by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) as a reference in carrying out their activities, especially during the rainy season.

He made the statement on Sunday while visiting an urban forest program conducted around the Bengawan Solo River. The program aims to better support the local administration in tackling flooding in the area.

He said he had ordered the BMKG to give all regions across the nation weekly weather forecasts.

“Although it is only a weather forecast, local administrations have to optimize the important data. We don’t want to see the data provided by the BMKG rendered useless. We must be able to use the data in supporting various activities, such as in predicting the proper time to work the soil, give weather forecasts needed by port officers and in anticipating possible natural disasters,” said Agung as quoted by detik.com news portal.

Citing an example, he said the BMKG had predicted that storms hitting the Philippines might not impact Indonesia as they would dissipate in the South China Sea. “Yet, we have to anticipate the impacts of the storms no matter how small the impact, especially since the rainfall this rainy season is projected to exceed the average level,” he said.