Indonesia's disaster agency says La Nina weather to strengthen in mid-2016

Reuters
A measuring pole for reading water levels stands at the Runge reservoir in the town of Runge, some 60 km (37 miles) north of Santiago February 3, 2012. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said on Friday that the La Nina weather pattern will strengthen from mid-2016, citing data from the country's weather agency. "Rain volume during 2016 will increase, causing floods and landslides," said Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman of BNPB. La Nina is a cooling of the tropical waters of the Pacific that is a counterpart to the El Nino weather event that is characterized by warmer waters. El Nino typically has knock-on effects that can cause billions of dollars of damage to food and water supplies around the globe. Indonesia the world's top palm oil producer and a major grower of other commodities like coffee, cocoa and rubber. (Reporting by Bernadette Christine Munthe; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)