Jakarta Globe, March 2, 2014
A Medan construction worker watches sunset through a smokey haze created by Riau fires on March 1, 2014. (AFP Photo/Sutanta Aditya) |
Pekanbaru.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) on Sunday began using aerial
firefighting methods in an effort to quell blazes that continued to burn in 12
Riau subdistricts and municipalities.
“The latest
data gathered shows that fires have spread across 7,972 hectares of land,” Riau
Haze Emergency Relief Taskforce head Brig. Gen. Prihadi Agus Irianto said in
Pekanbaru, the capitol of Riau, on Sunday.
Riau
Governor Annas Maamun declared a state of emergency on Wednesday, when 6,000
hectares had burned.
Prihadi
said on Sunday that fires were burning in Bengkalis, Dumai, Indragiri Hilir,
Indragiri Hulu, Kampar, Kuantan Singingi, the Meranti Islands, Pelalawan, Rokan
Hilir and Siak.
Bengkalis
and the Meranti Islands were the hardest hit, with 3,513 hectares and 2,648
hectares burning on Sunday, respectively.
Prihadi
said ground and air efforts were converging on the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu
biosphere reserve, where fires allegedly lit by careless villagers had burned for weeks.
The
Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said NASA’s Aqua and
Terra satellites detected 98 hotspots in Sumatra on Sunday — a drastic drop
from the 700 seen on Wednesday.
Dry weather
in recent weeks had proven to be an obstacle for firefighters, Prihadi said.
“When we’ve
managed to extinguish fires in two spots, for example, two other hotspots
appear in another area,” he told state-run Antara News Agency.
Despite
concerns that water dropped from above might not snuff sufficiently the
underground roots of fires, the BNPB began flying two airtankers on Sunday.
“Today, two
airplanes dispatched by the BNPB dropped water bombs from the air because we’re
still deprived of rain,” Riau administration spokesman Fahmi Usman said.
He said
that four helicopters would soon join the aerial efforts, including two owned
by pulp and paper companies.
Fires were
spotted in a Jakarta-based Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) concession and in Tesso
Nilo National Park in Pelalawan.
“We’re
coordinating with Riau’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency [to fight the
fires] in Tesso Nilo,” Fahmi told Indonesian news portal republika.co.id.
The Riau
fires, started by slash-and-burn agriculture techniques and exacerbated by
weather, have burned since early February, destroying great swathes of land,
displacing people from their homes, forcing schools to shut down, threatening
the respiratory health of thousands, disrupting flights and raising the ire of
Singapore, where legislation is under deliberation that could result in harsh penalties for Singapore-listed entities found to have contributed to the haze
problem.
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