Governments brace for historic El Nino impacts on global weather extremes

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and Reuters.

Key points

• In July alone, fires destroyed 95, 000 hectares (234, 750 acres) of land throughout Indonesia as dry conditions driven by a powerful El Nino weather pattern took hold.
• Minister of Environment Dammika Patabendi remarked to journalists the administration projected El Nino to peak around November but ⁠now believed it would peak sooner.
• Thick smog caused by the flames is blanketing areas like Palangkaraya, the capital of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan in Borneo, causing poor air quality.
• The administration has allocated 4.8 billion rupees ($14m) from the budget for water distribution.
• Water levels at hundreds of small tanks in the country have dropped to regarding 10 percent.

Governments are preparing for heightened risks of drought, flooding, extreme heat and wildfires as a rapidly strengthening El Nino raises the prospect of a historic climate event afterwards this year.

Sri Lanka has arranged ⁠for water to be delivered to almost 72, 000 residents throughout seven districts as the country tackles a drought linked to this year's powerful El Nino, a ⁠senior official remarked on Thursday.

Water levels at hundreds of small tanks in the country have dropped to regarding 10 percent. Families are projected to receive concerning 75 litres (20 gallons) of water every two to ‌three days for their drinking and sanitation needs during truck deliveries from parts of the country unaffected by the drought.

For context, the administration has allocated 4.8 billion rupees ($14m) from the budget for water distribution.

Minister of Environment Dammika Patabendi remarked to journalists the administration projected El Nino to peak around November but ⁠now believed it would peak sooner. "We will revise and extend response measures as necessary, " he remarked.

After September, Patabendi ⁠remarked, the year-end monsoons should bring heavy rain, but drought could return at the beginning of next year.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the administration states wildfires have burned through more than 200, 000 hectares (494, 200 acres) since the start of the year, an area around three times the size of the sprawling capital Jakarta.

In practice, the mayor advised individuals to wear masks and stay indoors. Motorists who ventured out battled through brown haze that reduced visibility.

Indonesia's Forestry Minister Raja Juli Antoni remarked to journalists in Palangkaraya on Wednesday that experts were on standby for cloud seeding operations to quell fires and prevent future ones.

"Should there be even the slightest trace of a cloud suitable for seeding, and provided it is technically feasible to seed it, we will carry out a weather modification operation, " he remarked.

Elsewhere, the US notes it will send a military hospital to the coast of Peru next year to assist the country cope with the effects of El Nino.

And in the Central American nation of Honduras, the administration has put 80 percent of the country, including the capital, on drought alert after El Nino-related dry weather burned harvests and caused livestock to die.

El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern driven by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It typically reshapes weather patterns throughout much of the world and brings heightened risks of drought, flooding, extreme heat and wildfires. This year's event is predicted to be one of the worst on record.

Taken together, the developments around governments brace for historic El Nino impacts on global weather extremes point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.