The additional fiscal transfers over US$625 million to the three provinces in Sumatra are expected to help regional governments manage the impacts of the disasters.
Abdul Muhari of BNPB said the restored land connection will speed up the movement of people and goods, including the distribution of humanitarian aid.
The government deployed four transport planes comprising three Hercules and one A400 aircraft to airports and fields in North Sumatra and Aceh.
![An aerial photo shows residential areas submerged in floodwater due to the collapse of a water-holding embankment in Demak, Central Java, on March 18, 2024. [ANTARA FOTO/Aji Styawan/Spt]](https://media.theindonesia.id/thumbs/2024/03/21/78655-an-aerial-photo-of-residential-areas-in-demak-central-java-submerged-in-floodwater/653x366-img-78655-an-aerial-photo-of-residential-areas-in-demak-central-java-submerged-in-floodwater.jpg)
TheIndonesia.co - The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) revealed that massive forest clearing during the colonial era caused sedimentation, which turned the Muria Strait, which connected Java Island to Muria Island, into land.
"In the Dutch colonial era, forest clearing was very intense and caused erosion. Then, sedimentation caused the Muria Strait to become land," said Eko Soebowo, a researcher at BRIN's Geological Disaster Research Center, on Wednesday.
Forest clearing and erosion since the seventh century have been recorded in the south part of the Muria Strait and on the slopes of Mount Muria, he said, as quoted by Antara.
He elaborated that the eroded materials carried by floodwaters gradually filled the strait, causing it to become shallower and eventually disappear as Muria Island merged with Java.
He cautioned that this land formed from sedimentation has not undergone complete compaction, making buildings on it susceptible to collapse.
"In the past, the floods carried the sediment into the Muria Strait, and the water receded, so that land was formed," Soebowo explained.
He then urged the public to be wise when taking underground water. Excessive groundwater extraction activities have caused severe land subsidence in Demak and Kudus in Central Java.
Climate change, which has led to ice melts at the North and South Poles, has also increased sea levels and become a serious threat that could potentially cause the Muria Strait to resurface, he cautioned.
However, Soebowo said that the recent floods in the Muria Strait were a purely natural phenomenon triggered by extreme weather.
