Agence France-Presse Jakarta Globe 19 Jun 13;
Indonesia plans to use weather-changing technology to try to unleash torrents of rain and extinguish raging fires on Sumatra that have cloaked neighboring Singapore and Malaysia in thick haze, an official said on Wednesday.
Singapore, which is home to 5.3 million inhabitants, has been pressing Jakarta to take action to put out the blazes, which have pushed air pollutant levels on the island to a 16-year high.
Indonesian Forestry Ministry official Raffles Panjaitan said the government planned to use a technology called “cloud-seeding” to try and put out the fires, which are mainly centered on peatlands in Riau province.
Helicopters would be sent into the skies above Sumatra to inject chemicals into clouds, which prompt the formation of heavy ice crystals, and so speed up the production of rain.
But the helicopters, from the disaster management agency, would not be dispatched until Friday at the earliest as preparations first need to be made, Raffles said.
About 100 firefighters tackling the blazes were finding them difficult to extinguish as they were smouldering underground in carbon-rich peatland, mostly in oil palm plantations, he said.
“It is extremely difficult to extinguish the fires that are burning under the surface of the peatland,” Raffles said.
He said the success of the cloud-seeding operation would depend on weather conditions.
“Hopefully there will be lots of clouds so that we can produce a lot of rain,” he added.
The worst-hit area was Bengkalis district, where 650 hectares of land was ablaze, he said, adding that 555 fires had been detected in Riau, up from 356 the previous month.
In Singapore, the Pollutant Standards Index soared to 172 at 3 p.m., well past the officially designated “unhealthy” threshold of 100, according to the National Environment Agency.
It was Singapore’s worst haze reading since September 1997 when the number peaked at 226.
The haze problem is a recurring one that happens in the dry season as a result of forest fires in the sprawling Indonesian archipelago, some of them deliberately started to clear land for cultivation.
Agence France-Presse
Riau trying to block peatland fires
Antara 19 Jun 13;
Pekanbaru, Riau Province (ANTARA News) - Four teams of the Riau forest fire and rescue brigade called "Manggala Agni" have been trying to block peatland fires and to prevent them from spreading to wider area.
"We could only try to block the fires and prevent them from spreading to wider area. It is very difficult to extinguish the fires because there are so many obstacles in the fire locations," Isbanu, the head of the fire control unit of the Riau Natural Resource Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said here on Wednesday.
Around 550 hectares of three-meter-deep peatland in Sepahat (Bengkalis District) and Pelintung (Dumai City) have been on fire since last weekend.
The Riau authorities have deployed two fire brigade teams in Sepahat and Pelintung to control the peatland fires.
The other two teams have been instructed to anticipate possible fires in conservation areas.
The teams being assigned in Sepahat and Pelintung have been assisted by personnel from local NGO, "Masyarakat Peduli Api (MPA), local fire brigade offices and companies.
However, there is still not enough people to deal with the peatland fires, which are more difficult to be extinguished because they are hidden and spreading under the soil.
"We are just trying to control the fires. If the fires could spread up to 50 hectares per day, we could hold it to around 30 hectares a day," he said.
The dry season has worsened the fires and hampered the efforts to control the blazes.
"The peatland fires could only be put out by rains. However, the weather now is very dry and the wind blows quite strongly," he said.
(Uu.F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
148 hotspots detected in Riau
Antara 19 Jun 13;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said on Wednesday, 148 hotspots have detected in Riau Province. These are the largest numbers on Sumatera island.
"Last observation from NOAA-18 satellite, have monitored 187 hotspots in Sumatera. While in Riau have monitored 148 hotspots," said Forecaster on Duty at BMKG Riau Station, Ardhitama, in Pekanbaru, Wednesday.
He elaborate the hotspots were detected in 10 districts and muncipals in Riau. Rokan Hilir districts have 32 spots, Rokan Hulu (23), Siak (21), Pelalawan (20), Indragiri Hilir (18), Bengkalis (17), Indragiri Hulu (8), Kampar (7), Kuantan Singingi (1) and Dumai City (1).
The numbers of hotspots in Riau have increase from previous day which reached 106 spots (up to 38 spots). This indicates land and forest fires still occur and most likely to expand.
Ardhitama said weather condition in Riau will be sunny and the possibility not going to rain. While, the temperature is predicted will reach a maximum 35.5 Celcius.
Wind is blowing from the Southwest to the Northwest at the speed of 8 to 30 miles per hour, he added.
That weak wind-blow cause smoke still occur in air. As in Pekanbaru, the smoke was thick enough in some areas until 10:00 am.
"Smoke is still horrible from morning till afternoon, the sight still dark though in the bright day," said a resident of Pekanbaru, Ganda Wibowo (23).
He said smoke was palpable in the air and cause eyes irritation and suffocating respiratory.
(F012)
Editor: Ella Syafputri
Thick haze sparks respiratory infections in Riau
Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 19 Jun 13;
Thick haze blanketing Bengkalis regency and Dumai City in Riau over the last few days has increased the number of respiratory infections.
In Bengkalis, the number of people suffering from respiratory infections reached 531 as of June 17, jumping from only 387 a month earlier.
"The sharp increase in the number of respiratory infection cases has been caused by the thick haze blanketing the area," Bengkalis health office head Mohammad Sukri said on Wednesday.
"All community health centers have been instructed to raise alertness against the impact of the haze, to prevent it from getting uncontrollable," Sukri said, urging local residents to reduce outdoor activities.
Meanwhile, data at the Dumai health office showed that the number of patients with respiratory cases treated at local community health centers and hospitals reached 393 as of June 19, up from 351 in early June. (fan)
'Breathless as soon as I got out of car'
Joyce Lim In Dumai (Riau Province) Straits Times 20 Jun 13;
FLYING into Pekanbaru - the capital of Riau province - yesterday morning, I thought I was well prepared for ground zero of the haze blanketing the region.
I had enough N95 masks to last four days. My Indonesian colleague even brought an oxygen tank along for me. But as it turned out, I was wrong.
With the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) level exceeding 400 for much of the day, the air was thick with smoke. Oncoming vehicles all had their fog lights switched on.
We arrived at a plantation in Pelintung, near Dumai, before dusk. Though I was wearing a mask, I felt breathless almost as soon as I got out of the car.
It was a challenging task to walk through kilometres of scorched land in the heat and smoke. Some parts of the plantation were still burning, and we could hear crackling sounds.
The plantation on our left was charred - clearly a result of the slash-and-burn method favoured by farmers to clear their land.
A worker who was hired to put out the fire told The Straits Times that it took more than 100 people and two days to put out the fire in one small part of the plantation. There were many areas where fires continued to rage, he added.
Asked how the fire was started, the worker said it was an act of God, before adding that he was more than happy to be able to earn some money putting it out.
But he also complained about shortness of breath and chest pain from inhaling the choking air.
When my two Straits Times colleagues and I returned to our hotel in town, we found the air there was not much better.
If I thought Singaporeans would be breathing a bit better, I was wrong again. I found out the PSI back home had hit a "hazardous" 321 last night.
Amid smoke, life goes on in Riau
Some farmers still carry out burning, residents continue with daily routine
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja and Joyce Lim In Dumai (Riau Province) Straits Times 20 Jun 13;
AIR pollution may have hit shocking levels here, but that has not stopped some plantations from continuing to burn crops and vegetation to make fertilisers or to clear the land.
When a Straits Times team travelled to the area yesterday, several farmers were seen lighting fresh fires on a vacant plot of land near Kandis, 82km north of Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province.
Mr Maliala Sembiring, who was burning oil palm fruit bunches to make fertilisers when approached by ST, said the low yield of oil palm fruits was one reason he turned to this traditional way of making fertilisers.
This involved burning the crop and using the ashes on various parts of the oil palm plantation.
"It is cheap, and we avoid risks of using counterfeit fertiliser," said Mr Maliala. "The yield is low around this time. Buying fertiliser is not wise. We have high yields in October through January."
When asked if what he was doing could cause a forest fire, he said: "No. It won't burn the plantation. This area is sealed, as you can see."
Further north in the village of Pelintung, the ST team saw a charred plantation where the heat and smell of smoke were still very strong.
The owner denied setting fire to the plantation and kicked out the ST team. He also threatened to fire the staff member who let in the journalists.
It was nearly 8pm when the team arrived in Dumai. The coastal city is said to be "ground zero" of the worsening air pollution blanketing the region, given its proximity to the many hot spots causing the haze.
But despite the choking cloud of dust and smoke that hung over the city, most residents appeared to be getting on with their daily lives.
The PSI in Dumai hit a shocking 460 at its worst yesterday, up from 340 on Tuesday.
The streets, however, were not deserted. In fact, the popular hotels in town were fully booked for the next few days - a sign of how residents here have come to accept the haze as an annual ritual.
Hotel staff said they have not received any cancellations for upcoming weddings and corporate and official events despite the worsening air pollution.
But not everything has been impervious to the deteriorating conditions.
"The plants are withering, people are wearing masks and there are fewer tourists," said trishaw rider Bendri Candra, 34, whose daily earnings have fallen by more than half, from 70,000 rupiah (S$9) to barely 30,000 rupiah.
Another Dumai resident soldiering on is Mr Olya Akmal, 32, who runs a convenience store in town.
"I get breathless even indoors. But I can't wear a mask to serve my customers," he told The Straits Times.
While Mr Olya chose not to wear a mask, others did not do so because they could not afford one.
Low-income residents in Dumai told the ST team that they were willing to endure the ailments brought on by the worsening air pollution and wait for the government to distribute masks for free.
Meanwhile, with firefighters struggling to extinguish the fires smouldering underground in carbon-rich peatland, Indonesian forestry officials said they might begin "cloud seeding" to induce much-needed rain.
Mr Raffles Panjaitan, a director at Indonesia's Forestry Ministry, was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that helicopters from the country's disaster management agency could be activated to do this.
But they could not be sent into the skies above Dumai and elsewhere in Riau province until tomorrow at the earliest.
RI dodges haze blame game
Bagus BT Saragih and Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 20 Jun 13;
Firest fire: Fire engulfs trees and bushes in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Tuesday. (Antara/FB Anggoro)Firest fire: Fire engulfs trees and bushes in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Tuesday. (Antara/FB Anggoro)
Amid criticism from its neighbors, Malaysia and Singapore, over the cross-border haze and deteriorating air quality affecting the two countries, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa talked tough on the issue, saying that ASEAN members should collaborate to address the situation rather than lay blame.
“The approach must be one of collaboration and partnership, not one of apportioning blame here and there. Let’s focus on putting the fires out,” Marty told a press conference.
Numerous hot spots created by slash-and-burn activities by several agricultural firms operating in Sumatra, particularly in Riau province, have reportedly resulted in thick haze over Singapore and some parts of Malaysia.
Singapore has urged Indonesia to provide data on the companies and concession maps to enable it to act against the plantation firms that employ slash-and-burn methods, adding that air pollution on the island had hit unhealthy levels with some of the worst readings since the 1997 regional haze crisis.
“Calls of such a type are actually a bit redundant, in the sense that we in Indonesia, the government and our people, want those responsible to be held accountable,” said Marty, commenting on the request.
“There is actually no need for such a demand. We are fully aware of the impact and consequences and the need for action,” Marty added.
The minister confirmed he had received phone calls from his counterparts in Malaysia and Singapore, but he refused to offer details, saying only that they had “exchanged information about the situation”.
Marty cited similar haze problems in other countries.
“Recently, we have seen a number of forest fires in the US and Australia. When those broke out, I think the first instinct was to express sympathy and solidarity, rather than wanting to blame somebody,” he continued, adding that there would be technical meetings between Indonesian and Singaporean officials on the issue in the coming few days.
Marty admitted that the government had not ratified the ASEAN trans-boundary haze pollution treaty, which was signed some 12 years ago. He said it was still undergoing a legislative process at the House of Representatives.
“We have to go through a certain process to ensure there is full consensus on the treaty. Even without ratification, as a matter of fact, we have complied with the requirements of the agreement,” Marty said.
Forestry Ministry secretary-general Hadi Daryanto said the ministry was ready to partner with Singapore in tracing the firms behind the fires in Riau. “We are keen to join with neighboring countries to identify the perpetrators; and the sanctions imposed will be imprisonment, fines and permit revocations,” Hadi said.
He added, however, that the country needed cooperation from Singapore and Malaysia to track down and prevent future blazes, considering that a number of companies operating in the area hailed from the two countries.
The haze itself is believed to emanate from Bengkalis and Dumai in Riau following peat land fires in the region. A blanket of thick haze has covered Bengkalis and Dumai over the past week and the number of respiratory infections has increased.
In Bengkalis, the number of people suffering from respiratory infections reached 531 as of June 17, jumping from only 387 a month earlier.
Data at the Dumai health office showed that the number of patients with respiratory problems treated at local community health centers (puskesmas) and hospitals totaled 393 as of June 19, up from 351 in early June.
Residents have been told to reduce outdoor activities, while those who have to go outdoors are advised to wear masks over their noses and mouths, and helmets and jackets to protect the eyes and skin from irritation. Meanwhile, the Bengkalis administration has called on the central government to immediately dispatch assistance to help tackle the disaster.
Bengkalis Deputy Regent Suayatno said the fires, which have destroyed vast hectares of rubber and oil palm plantations and bush, had been raging since March 1.
He said the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) and local fire fighters had dispatched all their personnel to extinguish the fires, but the flames continued to spread due to strong winds and very dry weather.
Anggi M. Lubis contributed to the story
