Indonesia: Number of hotspots in Riau double

Antara 19 Feb 14;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The number of hotspots of forest, plantation and peatland fires in Riau Province on Wednesday morning was 256, double from 126 on the previous day.

Of 281 hotspots detected across Sumatra Island, 256 were found in Riau province, Slamet Riyadi, the head of the Pekanbaru meteorological, climatology and geophysics agency (BMKG)s data and information section, said.

The data was based on the recording on Wednesday at 7 am local time, he added.

Of the 256 hotspots in Riau, 94 were detected in Bengkalis district, 32 in Meranti, 26 in Indragiri Hilir, 34 in Pelalawan, 52 in Siak, 10 in Rokan Hilir, 7 in Dumai, and one in Kampar.

He predicted that the number of hotspots in Riau will still be high until one week to come because of lack of rains. Hotspots in forests, plantations and peatland fires, which came early on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands this year, have caused the Indonesian government to intensify law enforcement to deal with the problem.

"Usually haze occurs in May or June. But, this year, the haze has happened in January and February in Riau and West Kalimantan," the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo stated in Jakarta, recently.

(KR-FZR/A014/F001)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik

528 hotspots of forest fires detected in Sumatra
Antara 17 Feb 14;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The Terra and Aqua satellite detected a total of 528 hotspots of forest, plantation, and peatland fires across Sumatra Island, Indonesia, on Monday morning.

"As per satellite imagery and data, 386 hotspots were recorded in the Riau Province, which was highest in the country," Slamet Riyadi, the head of the Pekanbaru Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG)s data and information section stated here on Monday.

In the Riau province, 136 hotspots were found in Bengkalis, 58 in Rokan Hilir, 52 in Meranti Islands, 35 in Dumai city, 34 in Siak, 28 in Indragiri Hilir, and one each in Rokan Hulu and Kampar respectively.

Scarcity of rains in the province has triggered the spread of forest fires, which are often deliberately set by some local farmers or plantation companies with vested interests to clear the land.

On Saturday morning (Feb. 15), the Terra and Aqua Satellite detected 704 hotspots in Sumatra, an increase of almost 100 percent from 357 recorded on the previous day. There were 611 hotspots recorded in the Riau Province, which was drastically up from 53 hotspots recorded a day earlier.

The 704 hotspots were spread across the six provinces on Sumatra Island, including 64 in North Sumatra, 18 in Aceh, four each in Jambi and Bangka Belitung, and three in the Riau Islands province, Sanya Gautami, an analyst at the BMKG noted on Feb. 15.

On February 11, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) held a coordination meeting with several government and law enforcement agencies to tackle the problem of haze from forest fires and drought this year.

The government will address the forest fire issue through land and aerial operations. The land operation will involve, among others, military officers, police, forest fire brigade units, and civilian security personnel.

The aerial operations will include air-borne water bombing and weather modification or cloud seeding technologies. The BNBP will rent the Be-200 Fire-Fighting Amphibious aircraft and the Kamov helicopter from Russia for water bombing.

(f001/INE)

EDITED BY INE.
Editor: Suryanto

Riau haze remains, thousands suffer respiratory problems
Rizal Harahap and Jon Afrizal, The Jakarta Post 19 Feb 14;

The haze in Riau, which has plagued the province since late January, is showing no signs of receding with over 14,000 people suffering from acute respiratory tract infections (ISPA) as they breathe in the polluted air.

Based on data from the Riau Health Office, the highest number of patients with ISPA are in Rokan Hilir regency (6,661 people), followed by Pekanbaru (1,420), Dumai (1,237), Siak (1,232) and Bengkalis (1,092). Kuantan Singingi regency only has 15 people affected.

“None of the regencies have been spared from the affects of the haze,” said Riau Health Office’s environmental health and disease control division head Erdinal on Tuesday.

Besides ISPA, four other health issues have surfaced, namely pneumonia, infecting 179 patients, asthma (314), eye irritation (205) and skin irritation (501).

“Every regency and mayoralty has been instructed to provide free treatment to patients affected by the haze. Treatment will be covered by the Riau provincial budget,” he said.

The Riau Health Office distributed 150,000 masks over the past week.

“On Feb. 16, 12,840 ISPA patients were recorded and that number rose to 14,093 in just two days. This has to be addressed,” said Erdinal, referring to the reasoning behind the dispersal of face masks.

“Regions severely hit by the haze have been told to close their kindergarten and elementary schools,” he said. “So far, five regencies and mayoralties have imposed leave on students: Dumai and Pekanbaru municipalities and Siak, Pelalawan and Rokan Hulu regencies.”

According to Erdinal, younger children are especially susceptible to the haze. At Arifin Achmad General Hospital in Pekanbaru, for instance, almost half of its 70 ISPA patients are below the age of 14.

The Riau provincial administration extended its haze disaster alert status, which should have ended on Feb. 17, to next week as forest and peatland fires continue to burn.

“More than 6,000 hectares are affected as of mid February. They include oil palm plantations, community-owned sago and rubber farms as well as large-scale estates,” said Riau Plantation Office head Zulher.

Besides direct action by police, he added, the Riau provincial administration had carried out persuasive measures, such as speaking directly with forestry and plantation companies, who promised to cease the practice of slash-and-burn and help put out the fires.

Separately, Riau Police chief spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Guntur Aryo Tejo said the police in a number of regions had detained 10 suspects.

“We have only arrested 10 suspects — all are members of the public: No companies have been named as suspects,” said Guntur.

Meanwhile, in Jambi province, the number of hotspots has increased. In February thus far, a total of 67 hotspots have been detected, as reported by the Jambi Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD).

Based on the BPBD report, the highest number of hotspots were found in the regencies of Tebo (41 hotspots), Batanghari (5), Sarolangun (4), West Tanjung Jabung (6), East Tanjung Jabung (1), Muaro Jambi (7) and Bungo (3).

“Some were detected in Berbak National Park. The investigation is ongoing,” said Jambi BPBD Emergency Response Division head Dalmanto on Tuesday.

He said his office would further discuss the matter with all the relevant agencies.