
"Improving water resources management and services will be critical to better protect Indonesian people against droughts in the future," warned Hamong Santoso from the People’s Coalition for the Right to Water (KRuHA), while the government is preparing Rp 1.7 trillion (US$197.2 million) to cope with the impacts of the droughts, which have resulted from an El Niño typhoon hampering several areas in Indonesia. Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said that the government will take the mitigation fund from this year's food contingency fund, amounting to Rp 3 trillion that has been allocated in the 2011 state budget.