Indonesia: Govt prepares emergency operations, national taskforce for fires

thejakartapost.com 5 Sep 15;

The government is set to prepare smoke emergency operations to overcome forest and land fires in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan following a closed meeting at the Environment and Forestry Ministry on Saturday.

“A ministry decree will be issued regarding the smoke emergency operations. A national taskforce (Satgas) will be established as well,” said the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s secretary-general, Bambang Hendroyono, as quoted by kompas.com.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said, National Police chief Badrodin Haiti, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo and regional representatives from South Sumatra, Jambi and Riau were among those in attendance at the meeting held at the Manggala Wanabakti building in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

According to Bambang, the governors of Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, Central Kalimantan and West Kalimantan provinces will lead the operations on the regional level.

“Hopefully we can immediately start the joint operation,” said Bambang.

Efforts to extinguish the fires will be carried out on land and through water bombing from the air.

Gatot Nurmantyo said that the TNI is ready to deploy helicopters and CN 295, Hercules and Cessna aircraft to support the operation.

“Besides extinguishing the fires, Satgas will also act as law enforcement and health officers,” said Gatot. (kes)(++++)


Regions remain confident amid worsening haze
Syofiardi Bachyul JB and Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 5 Sep 15;

Despite the thickening haze that has blanketed their regions over the past few weeks, local authorities in West Sumatra and Riau said on Friday that they had yet to declare an emergency status for their respective jurisdictions.

West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) prevention division head Rumainur said the decision to delay such a declaration had been taken because the thickness of the haze continued to fluctuate in the province and flights at local airports still continued to run as usual.

“The haze thickens in the morning but eventually subsides in the afternoon and then thickens again the next morning,” Rumainur told The Jakarta Post.

The West Sumatra provincial administration, according to Rumainur, will not rush to declare an emergency status because such a declaration would damage economic activity and tourism in the region.

“We will have a number of national events here including the Tour de Singkarak, to be held in October,” he said, referring to the annual international cycling race.

Local authorities in many parts of the country, particularly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, have been struggling to put out massive land and forest fires over the past few months caused by this year’s prolonged dry season.

In Pekanbaru, acting Riau Governor Arsyadjuliandi “Andi” Rachman also said that his province had no plans to declare an emergency status, despite pressure from various parties.

“Unlike what happened in 2014, the thick haze has stayed [in the province] for only a few days while severe haze only emerges for a matter of hours,” Andi told reporters.

The intensity of the current haze, according to Andi, will not lead to the shutdown of Pekanbaru’s Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport despite a series of flight delays at the airport over the past three days.

“What we need to do is convince our neighboring provinces to put in their very best efforts to extinguishing the fires that produce the haze that has been blanketing Riau,” he said.

In Jambi, the local police announced that they had detained nine people suspected of having caused fires in a conservation forest in Betara, West Tanjungjabung regency.

Jambi Police chief Brig. Gen. Lutfi Lubihanto said that based on the provisional investigation, the suspects had intentionally entered the conservation forest to commit illegal logging and clear land for plantation purposes.

In North Sumatra, thick haze thought to have come from neighboring provinces continues to cause a decline in the quality of air in a number of regions, including the provincial capital of Medan.

“We call on people to reduce outdoor activities because the haze may cause them to suffer from ISPA [acute respiratory infection],” acting North Sumatra Governor T. Erry Nuradi said.

Jon Afrizal in Jambi and Apriadi Gunawan in Medan contributed to this story.