Indonesia: Low visibility due to haze disrupts flights in Pekanbaru

The Jakarta Post 11 Feb 14;

Haze caused by forest fires and fog blanketing Riau province disrupted flights to and from the Sutan Syarif Kasim II airport in Pekanbaru on Tuesday.

"Garuda and Lion Air, whose flights were scheduled to arrive at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. from Jakarta, were delayed until 10 p.m.," airport duty manager Baiquni said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He further said that an Air Asia aircraft from Bandung, West Java, had also been delayed for two hours,

A number flights from the airport were also delayed since morning.

This was the worst haze in recent weeks in Riau, with visibility in some places reaching only 500 meters Baiquni said.

He said that the Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) disclosed that the haze was the result of smoke from forest fires and thick morning fog. (idb)

Air pollution in Riau city soars to hazardous levels
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja, The Straits Times Jakarta Post 12 Feb 14;

Air pollution in Dumai, the epicentre of last year's extreme haze, soared to very hazardous levels on Tuesday morning, as the dry season - and open burning - started much earlier this year.

The Air Pollutant Index in Dumai, Riau province, surged on Tuesday to 449, close to levels seen at the peak of the haze last June, when Indonesia was forced to dump water from airplanes to douse forest fires.

Dumai, some 270km northwest of Singapore, was at the centre of the worst haze in years last year as farmers slashed and burned to clear land, causing air pollution to hit record highs in nearby Singapore and Malaysia.

On Tuesday, the number of hot spots in Sumatra more than doubled to over 450, from about 190 a day earlier, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite.

For now, winds are blowing away from Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia, said Agus Wibowo, head of the data department at Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB). He said there were no reports of the two neighbouring countries being affected by haze so far.

In Siak district, south-east of Dumai, 210 schools were closed and students sent home on Tuesday. Schools are expected to remain closed at least until Wednesday, after fire raged in a sago plantation owned by PT Nasional Sago Prima in a neighbouring district of Meranti Islands.

Flights in Pekanbaru, Riau and Palembang, South Sumatra, were delayed this week due to low visibility.

Farmers and plantation companies in Sumatra and Kalimantan, faced with unusually dry weather over the past few weeks, have been burning to clear land, the cheapest way to do so.

Open burning is against the law but the rule is widely flouted.

Provincial heads of the disaster mitigation agency from eight haze-affected provinces, including Riau, North Sumatra and West Kalimantan, called on the government on Tuesday to begin water bombing.

"Most of the fires were caused by deliberate burning by residents, not fire accidents," said BNPB head Syamsul Maarif in an interview, citing reports from the disaster agency's provincial heads. "Many of the fires were near the main roads, access roads, indicating the starting of the fires was deliberate."

The BNPB will help with water bombing and cloud seeding operations by deploying air force aircraft and hired helicopters, said Syamsul.

The agency is gearing up for an especially hot and dry season starting from April, he added.

"Learning from last year's experience, we don't want to be late this time round," he told The Straits Times.

Syamsul said the agency will rent Russian Kamov helicopters with belly tanks that can carry 8,000 litres of water, compared with the 500 litres helicopters in Indonesia can carry. The agency also plans to rent helicopters from Australia, he added.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, Johor's fire department told The Star newspaper that it recorded 1,226 cases of open burning in the southern state between January 1 and February 8, including bushfires, forest fires, fires in plantations and burning of garbage.

That compared with only 1,856 open-burning cases for the whole of last year.

Penang, too, has seen bushfires in the past few weeks due to the dry weather.

In Australia, climate models indicate an increased chance of an El Nino weather pattern emerging later this year, the country's weather bureau said on Tuesday.

El Nino can cause flooding and heavy rains in the United States and South America and trigger drought conditions in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Indonesia detects 297 hot spots
New Straits Times 12 Feb 14;

PEKAN BARU (Riau): The Terra and Aqua Satellite detected 297 hot spots of forest fires on Sumatra yesterday morning, a significant increase from 62 hot spots detected on the previous day, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported.

Of the number, 140 hot spots were in North Sumatra, 81 in Riau province, 67 in Aceh Darussalam, three respectively in Riau Islands and West Sumatra, Bibin Sulianto, an analyst from the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG), stated here yesterday.

Sulianto said that the hot spots did not have anything to do with the eruption of Mount Sinabung.

On Feb 1, the satellite had detected 93 hot spots, or areas of intense heat indicative of forest fires in the Riau province.

"The largest number of forest fires has been detected in Bengkalis," said Ardhitama of the Pekanbaru Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.

In the Bengkalis district, 52 hot spots were detected in the plantation, forest and farming areas, he elaborated.

The Pelalawan district had 18 hot spots, while Siak had 16. Indragiri Hilir had four hot spots; Duma had three, and Rokan Hilir had one hot spot while a number of cities in Riau were covered by haze. Bernama

Malaysia: More Sumatra hotspots detected
The Star 12 Feb 14;

PEKANBARU, Riau: The Terra and Aqua Satellite detected 297 hotspots of forest fires on Sumatra Island on Tuesday morning, a significant increase from 62 the previous day.

Indonesia's ANTARA reported that of the total 297 hotspots, 140 were in North Sumatra, 81 in Riau province, 67 in Aceh Darussalam, three respectively in Riau Islands and West Sumatra, said Bibin Sulianto, an analyst from the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG).

Sulianto noted that he did not know where the hotspots came from but he was sure that they did not have anything to do with the eruption of Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra.

The satellite is more accurate in detecting geothermal than the NOAA-18 satellite, which used to be the reference for the Pekanbaru BMKG.

On Feb 1, the satellite detected 93 hotspots, or areas of intense heat indicative of forest fires in the Riau province.

"The largest number of forest fires has been detected in Bengkalis," Ardhitama of the Pekanbaru Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency pointed out recently.

In the Bengkalis district, 52 hotspots were detected in the plantation, forest and farming areas, he elaborated.

The Pelalawan district had 18 hotspots, while Siak had 16. Indragiri Hilir had four hotspots; Duma had three, while Rokan Hilir had one hotspot.

A number of cities in Riau were covered by haze caused by the fiery hotspots.

Indonesia is hit by forest fires almost every year. Some of the fires have been set deliberately by irresponsible plantation companies hoping to clear the land for plantations or farming activities. This is against the existing laws in Indonesia.

Haze arising from land-clearing fires often degrades the air quality, triggers health problems for some people and reduces visibility in affected areas, in particular, parts of Sumatra and the Kalimantan Islands.

Last year, the Indonesian government declared a state of emergency in the Riau province on June 21, after heavy smog blanketed parts of Sumatra Island, Singapore and Malaysia. - Bernama