Rizal Harahap, thejakartapost.com 31 Aug 15;
Riau is presently being blanketed by thick smoke from hundreds of hot spots that have sprung up in the last few days.
Thick haze from land and forest fires is reported to have covered again several areas across the province after they had been almost completely distinguished in the past week.
Based on data collected by the Pekanbaru Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) from Terra and Aqua satellites on Monday morning, Riau had 164 hot spots that spread throughout nine regencies and municipalities across the province, up from 43 reported on the previous day. Indragiri Hilir has 77 hot spots, making it the regency with the highest number of hot spots. Indragiri Hulu ranks second with 31 hot spots, followed by Pelalawan (29), Siak (10), Bengkalis (six), Kampar (five), Dumai (three), Rokan Hilir (two) and Kuantan Singingi (one).
“Of the total, 120 hot spots have been identified as fire spots with a trust level of more than 70 percent. Indragiri Hilir has 64 fire spots, followed by Indragiri Hulu (22), Pelalawan (18) and Siak (seven). Bengkalis and Dumai have three fire spots each, followed by Kampar (two) and Rokan Hilir (one),” BMKG Pekanbaru head Sugarin said on Monday.
Despite such a drastic increase, he said, the number of hot spots in Riau was still far below the ones reported in Jambi and South Sumatra.
Citing BMKG data, he added, the number of hot spots in Jambi and South Sumatra had reached 250 and 247 respectively by Monday morning.
“In total, 759 hot spots are being monitored in Sumatra. The remaining 82 hot spots have been detected in Bangka Belitung, followed by six hot spots in West Sumatra and one hot spot in Bengkulu,” said Sugarin.
Citing reports from its monitoring post, the BMKG Pekanbaru said the worst visibility decline occurred in Pelalawan, in which haze smoke had reduced visibility to only 800 meters. In Pekanbaru, visibility reached one kilometer, while in Rengat, it reached two kilometers.
“Only Dumai has still had quite good visibility, reaching four kilometers. Shipping activities still run normally,” said Sugarin.
BPBD Riau head Edward Sanger said the thick smoke covering Riau was likely from land and forest fires in neighboring provinces. (ebf)
Haze delays flights at Kualanamu airport
The Jakarta Post 31 Aug 15;
The haze that has blanketed many parts of North Sumatra for the last three days has delayed several flights from the Kualanamu International Airport in Medan on Sunday.
The airport duty manager Jasirin said the haze which came from the Jambi, Riau and South Sumatra provinces, had delayed two Garuda Indonesia flights to Palembang, South Sumatra, and Sibolga, North Sumatra and a Wings Air flight to Sibolga. “The departures were postponed for about two hours since the destination airports were covered by the haze,” Jasirin told The Jakarta Post.
He admitted that the haze had also slightly blanketed the Kualanamu airport for the last three days. Nonetheless, he maintained that it was still considered normal and safe for the flights to arrive and depart from the airport.
