Riau likely to send haze to Singapore, Malaysia

The Jakarta Post 5 Jul 09;

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKB) predicted Sunday that the haze currently blanketing Riau province would likely move to nearby Singapore and Malaysia.

Rahmad Tauladani, an analyst at the agency's Riau office, noted that the wind was now changing direction and blowing the haze to the direction of Singapore and Malaysia.

"In near future, the haze from Riau will go to neighboring countries because the wind blows it to the east," Rahmad was quoted by Antara as saying.

He said the haze currently blanketing Pekanbaru, the provincial capital of Riau, came from Riau province itself, and some likely coming from other areas such as Jambi and South Sumatra.

Based on satellite images, the number of hotspots on Sumatra island -- an indication of forest fires -- dropped from 277 hotspots on Saturday to only 60 hotspots on Sunday.

The BMKG spotted eight hotspots in Riau province on Sunday, spreading in three regencies, i.e. Indragiri Hilir, Pelalawan and Indragiri Hulu.

Rahmad predicted that forest fires would continue to beset Riau because of low intensity of rains.

Smog Putting Airport in Riau at Risk
Jakarta Globe 5 Jul 09;

Authorities at the Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau, expressed concern that a smog caused by forest fires near the area would hamper day-to-day operations.

Ibnu Hasan, duty manager of the airport, said the haze began to affect visibility along the runway on Sunday morning. Visibility was reduced from 2,500 meters when the airport opened at 6 a.m. to merely 1,000 meters two hours later.

“If the haze continues to become thicker and the visibility drops below 1,000 meters, then based on aviation regulations, we have to shut down airport operations,” he said on Sunday.

That appeared to be the case in the afternoon when the airport closed the runway for two hours beginning at 1 p.m., forcing flights from Jakarta to divert to either Padang, West Sumatra or Medan in North Sumatra.

But despite the prevailing conditions, airport officials reopened operations after 3 p.m, allowing four flights to depart the airport and come in from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, according to Hasan.

Pekanbaru’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency, said that the smoky haze could be attributed to incidents of forest fire in Riau.

According to agency representative Ardhitama, the latest information provided via satellite showed 161 hot spots have spread throughout Riau.

“Those 161 hot spots were coming from nine areas in Riau,” Ardhitama said.

Most of the hotspots were located in Bengkalis district with 39, followed by Rokan Hulu district at 33, Pelalawan at 22, Siak at 20, Kampar at 13, Indragiri Hilir with 13, Rokan Hilir at 12, Indragiri Hulu at five and Dumai with four.

The agency estimated that the haze would remain because of the relative absence of wind.

Antara