Indonesia: Satellites Detect 90 Hot Spots in Riau

Jakarta Globe 3 Aug 14;

Pekanbaru. A total of 90 hot spots was detected by the Modis Terra and Aqua satellites in the Sumatran province of Riau on Sunday, the local disaster agency said, according to a media report, and that is a lesser amount compared to the 208 hot spots reported last week.

“Mostly the spots are located in the Rokan Hilir district [where there are] 70 spots,” Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency chief Said Saqlul Amri said on Sunday, as quoted by state-run Antara news agency.

The satellite images also reportedly showed seven hot spots in the city of Dumai and three spots in the Bengkali and Kampar districts respectively.

Six more hot spots are said to be spread across Rokan Hulu, Siak and Indragiri, while another one was found in the Pelalawan district.

The number of hot spots detected by the two satellites, however, differed from that detected by the NOAA 18 satellite, which showed only four hot spots in Riau out of a total of 46 hot spots throughout the Sumatran island. Two are said to be found in the Rokan Hulu district, one in Bengkali and another one in the Indragiri Hilir district.

Some 25,000 hectares of land have been damaged by forest fires since the beginning of this year, the Antara report says, with the smoke interfering with not only the daily activities of local residents but also those of neighboring neighbors such as Singapore and Malaysia.