Flooding Dominated Indonesia's Natural Disasters in 2021

Most of Indonesia entered the rainy season in September and October 2021. Flooding again became a recurring disaster during the rainy season in the archipelago. The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) reported that flooding was the most frequent disaster, with 788 flood events recorded until September 15, 2021.

In addition to floods, tornadoes and landslides also posed threats, with 485 and 357 events respectively. This was followed by 208 forest and land fires.

BNPB recorded 23 earthquakes, 22 high tides and coastal erosion events, and eight drought events in Indonesia. As a result, a total of 1,891 natural disasters occurred in Indonesia throughout 2021.

These natural disasters caused 6,049,649 people to suffer and become displaced, 12,892 injuries, 511 deaths, and 70 missing persons.

Based on this, the government is preparing early warnings based on structural and cultural components to mitigate threats from hydrometeorological hazards. Hydrometeorological hazards are disasters whose impacts are triggered by meteorological parameters such as rainfall, humidity, temperature, and wind.