Indonesia Highlights: Heatwave Hoax Goes Viral | Borobudur Marathon Still a Go Despite Mt Merapi Rumbling | President Joko Widodo Attends Virtual East Asia Summit

KOMPAS.com – Amid the already challenging time of the Covid-19 pandemic, a heatwave post went viral on social media. The hoax urged people to remain alert and keep themselves hydrated after a supposed heatwave swept through Indonesia with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius. The country’s weather agency promptly said this was untrue.

In the Indonesian province of Yogyakarta, the 2020 Borobudur Marathon will still go on Sunday, November 15, amid the increasing volcanic activity of Mount Merapi. Last week the authorities raised the emergency alert to ‘watch’ or the second-highest level. The event will take place at the world’s biggest Buddhist temple in the country’s ancient city of Yogyakarta.

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo attended the East Asia Summit on Saturday, calling the participating countries to build strategic partnerships in enhancing the cooperation with each other during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Below are the editors’ picks published on Kompas.com:

1. Indonesia’s Heatwave Hoax Goes Viral on Social Media

KOMPAS.com/ELSA CATRIANA An illustration of hoax.

Unproven information went viral on social media, saying that Indonesia suffered from a heatwave as the temperatures reached 40-50 degrees Celsius on Saturday, November 14.
The fake information recommended that peple take necessary actions to protect themselves, including avoiding drinking cold water.

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has advised that the information was incorrect. “The circulating news is certainly inaccurate because the current conditions cannot be said to be a heatwave,” the BMKG said in a statement on Saturday.

Source: https://www.kompas.com/tren/read/2020/11/14/175649165/hoaks-informasi-gelombang-panas-di-indonesia.

2. Borobudur Marathon Still a Go amid Mt Merapi Volcanic Activity

KOMPAS.com/MOCHAMAD SADHELI Borobudur Marathon 2020 in Magelang, Central Java is set to take place on Saturday, November 15, 2020.

A prestigious running race in Central Java called the Borobudur Marathon 2020 is set to begin on Sunday, November 15 amid the increasing volcanic activity at Mount Merapi.