Indonesia: Pekanbaru mayor orders evacuation of infants due to haze

Antara 29 Sep 15;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Mayor of Pekanbaru Firdaus has issued an order to evacuate infants under six months of age in 12 sub-districts badly affected by haze arising from the forest fires.

"We will evacuate them this afternoon. A team is now coordinating the evacuation process," Mayor Firdaus noted here on Tuesday.

The local authorities will coordinate the evacuation of infants below six months of age from underprivileged families, he stated.

They will be evacuated to a city hall that has been transformed into a makeshift nursery and has been equipped with baby boxes, air conditioners, and a health clinic. The local authorities will also provide milk to the infants.

The evacuation has been deemed necessary as Pekanbarus air pollution index has reached a hazardous level over the past week.

"At present, the air pollution index in Pekanbaru has reached one thousand psi, which is categorized as hazardous," he remarked.

Poor families usually do not have good facilities for infants, thus the air quality inside their homes is similar to that outside, he noted.

"Therefore, we are trying to provide facilities, including good air conditioning, so that the infants, the countrys next generation, can breathe clean air," he affirmed.

The evacuation process will be carried out by personnel of the local disaster mitigation office (BPBD), health office, community health centers, and village heads.

"The infants will stay at the city hall as long as the air quality is bad," he noted.(*)

Fires in Jambi, S. Sumatra pollute now fire-free Riau
thejakartapost.com 29 Sep 15;

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Pekanbaru says that thick smoke would continue to blanket several areas in Riau, potentially reducing visibility to around just 100 meters.

“The wind is now tending to move toward Riau. Meanwhile, the wind passing across Riau will turn toward the southeast and slow down. That’s why it will be difficult for us to avoid smoke from Jambi and South Sumatra,” BMKG Pekanbaru head Sugarin said as quoted by Antara new agency in Pekanbaru on Tuesday.

He said that based on the agency’s weather data, as of 7 a.m. local time on Tuesday, thick smoke was still blanketing four areas, namely Dumai, Pelalawan, Pekanbaru and Rengat.

“In Pekanbaru, visibility has reduced to only 200 meters while in Pelalawan and Rengat in Indragiri Hulu regency [it is] 100m. In Dumai, visibility is better, reaching 1,000m,” said Sugarin.

Based on Terra and Aqua satellite imagery data, 190 hot spots are spread across Sumatra. Most are concentrated in South Sumatra, where there are 178 in total. Jambi has 11 hot spots and Bangka Belitung has one.

Earlier, acting Riau governor Arsyadjuliandi Rachman announced that the provincial administration had decided to extend the air-pollution emergency status, which would have expired on Monday.

“[...] today, we agree to extend the air pollution emergency status to Oct. 11,” he said.

Arsyadjuliandi said the air-pollution emergency status helps the Riau administration to be more focused in handling illnesses resulted from the haze disaster.

He said that Riau had been free from hot spots and fires for the last several days, though still, smoke was blanketing areas in the province.

“The smoke from several neighboring provinces has continued to cover Riau. We will focus our attention on handling the health impacts of the haze,” the acting governor said. (ebf)(++++)

RI struggles to conquer haze crisis
Rizal Harahap, The Jakarta Post 29 Sep 15;

Despite the government’s pledge of all-out recovery efforts, land and forest fires have continued to rage in many regions in Sumatra and Kalimantan, leaving local residents to struggle with thick haze that puts their health at risk and the education and transportation sectors in jeopardy.

In Riau, the country’s largest oil-producing region, a high intensity of smoke blanketed many parts of the province on Monday despite the absence of hot spots indicating land and forest fires in the province since a day earlier.

Head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) Pekanbaru station, Sugarin, said of the 285 hot spots detected on Monday in Sumatra, 239 had been spotted in South Sumatra, 29 in Bangka-Belitung and 17 in Lampung.

“The deteriorating air quality in Riau is triggered by haze produced by the remaining forest and land fires in a number of our neighboring provinces,” Sugarin said.

In the provincial capital of Pekanbaru, visibility was recorded at 100 meters on Monday morning. Indragiri Hulu and Pelalawan regencies shared the same level of visibility at 200 meters while Dumai municipality recorded slightly better visibility at 500 meters.

Data at the Riau haze disaster emergency post showed that, as of Monday, the air pollutant standard index (PSI) in the four regions of Pekanbaru, Kampar, Siak and Rokan Hilir stood at “dangerous”, with Pekanbaru recording the highest level of air pollution with 858 PSI.

According to the government’s existing guidelines, air quality is considered “healthy” if the pollutant level stands below 50 PSI, “moderate” when the level stands between 51 and 100 PSI, “unhealthy” between 101 and 199 PSI, “very unhealthy” between 200 and 299 PSI and “dangerous” when it surpasses 300 PSI.

In response to the worsening haze, the Pekanbaru Education Agency on Monday decided to again temporarily shut schools until Wednesday after resuming classes on Friday and Saturday.

“It’s better for the children to stay at home amid thick and dangerous haze like at present,” agency head Zulfadil said.

Over the past weeks, air pollution from fires in peatland and plantations has severely affected several regions in Sumatra and Kalimantan, including Jambi, Riau, South Sumatra, West Sumatra and Central Kalimantan.

The ongoing crisis has also been exacerbated by this year’s prolonged dry season, caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Soon after his inauguration on Sept. 9, the new chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Willem Rampangilei, said the agency would aim to clear up the haze blanketing Sumatra in two weeks.

Among indicators of success, he said, would be airports in the regions operating normally without disruptions from haze, sending students back to school and reducing symptoms of acute respiratory infections (ISPA).

Approaching the end of the month, however, the government-led recovery efforts have shown little progress, as the number of fires detected remains fluctuating.

In West Sumatra, the Dharmasraya regional administration also decided to halt school activities on Monday as the air quality in the region stood at a “dangerous” level over the past three days.

“We decided to take the measure to help students avoid the impacts of haze on their health,” Dharmasraya Education, Youth and Sports Agency secretary Sutadi said on Monday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Thick haze has also cost thousands of air travelers time and money.

Ria Permana Sari, 28, a Pekanbaru resident, said she had had to travel overland to Padang, West Sumatra, to get a flight to Jakarta since all flights from Pekanbaru’s Sultan Syarif Kasim (SKK) II International Airport to the nation’s capital had been canceled since Saturday because of poor visibility.

“Many passengers have been forced to travel overland to Padang to fly to Jakarta. For this, we have to spend an extra Rp 150,000 [US$10.10] for the trip, which takes six hours from Pekanbaru,” she said, as quoted by Antara.

Meanwhile, in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, the local Health Agency said the extraordinary occurrence status for ISPA in the city had entered a third week.

The agency’s disaster and endemic section head Fransiska said 759 people had visited local community health centers (Puskesmas) throughout last week for ISPA treatment despite the long weekend for Idul Adha (the Islamic Day of Sacrifice).

“If there was no holiday, the number of patients coming to Puskesmas for ISPA treatments last week for sure would have been higher than 759,” she said.


All flights from Hang Nadim Airport delayed due to haze
thejakartapost.com 29 Sep 15;

Authorities of Hang Nadim International Airport in Batam, Riau Islands, say the visibility at the airport and in surrounding areas has decreased to below 500 meters, forcing them to delay all flights scheduled to depart on Tuesday morning. Several flights scheduled to land in Hang Nadim were rerouted to other airports, they added.

“Visibility was still below 500m this morning. No flight has departed from the airport and flight arrivals have also been disrupted,” Hang Nadim International Airport general affairs manager Suwarso said as quoted by Antara news agency in Batam on Tuesday morning.

He said it was the worst visibility the smoke from forest fires in Sumatra had caused in Batam.

Antara reported that visibility had been getting worse since Monday afternoon, causing the disruption of flights bound for Hang Nadim, Batam. Based on airport arrival data, eight flights should have landed as of 8:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday, but reportedly no flights arrived.

Three departures, Lion Air flights departing for Jakarta and Pangkal Pinang and a Garuda Indonesia flight departing for Jakarta, have been delayed until the situation to improves.

“We have continued to monitor the situation and are still waiting for developments. Thick smoke blanketing the airport’s runways is still disrupting our flight schedules,” said Suwarso.

A number of people who came to pick up friends and relatives at Hang Nadim Airport said they had not yet received information on when the rerouted flights would arrive in Batam.

“I was informed that the Lion Air flight from Jakarta is still in Medan [in North Sumatra]. It has not yet departed to Batam,” said Rizal. The disrupted flight schedules have caused a passenger build-up at the airport’s departure terminal. (ebf)(++++)