thejakartapost.com 19 Sep 15;
The number of hot spots in Sumatra and Kalimantan has decreased over the last few days, yet the haze from forest and land fires remains fairly thick, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
“Visibility is still low and the average air quality is unhealthy,” said BNPB head Sutopo Purwo Nugroho on Friday as quoted by Antara news agency.
The Terra and Aqua satellites on Friday detected 471 hot spots in Sumatra and 398 hot spots in Kalimantan.
In Sumatra, the hot spots were detected in Jambi (166), followed by South Sumatra (148), Riau (116), West Sumatra (25), Bengkulu (10), North Sumatra (four) and Lampung (two).
In terms of visibility, Pelalawan in Riau and Jambi encountered the lowest with 200 meters, followed by Dumai (300 meters) and Pekanbaru (500 meters), both in Riau, and Palembang in South Sumatra (1 kilometer).
In Kalimantan, the hot spots were spread around Central Kalimantan (190), South Kalimantan (133), East Kalimantan (42) and West Kalimantan (33).
The region’s lowest visibility occurred in Sanggu Buntok in Central Kalimantan (100 meters), followed by Nanga Pinoh in West Kalimantan and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan (200 meters), Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan (300 meters), Pontianak in West Kalimantan (400 meters), Ketapang in West Kalimantan and Sampit in Central Kalimantan (500 meters), Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan (700 meters) and Muara Teweh in Central Kalimantan (1 kilometer).
BNPB also reported that the haze in Sumatra was no longer reaching the Malacca Strait or neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. However, the agency added, the smog in Kalimantan was still reaching the western part of Malaysia’s Sarawak state in northern Borneo.
“Almost 80 percent of Kalimantan is blanketed by smoke,” said Sutopo.
The pollution has disrupted activities at most schools in Central Kalimantan, Riau and Jambi; all three have issued a siaga (alert) emergency level, the highest level.
Thousands of officers have been deployed to extinguish the fires. (edn/kes)(++++)
Haze returns to West Sumatra as Malaysians evacuated from Riau
Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post 19 Sep 15;
Haze returned to almost all parts of West Sumatra on Friday after thinning for three days following rain over much of the province, forcing the Malaysian government to evacuate its citizens from Riau.
A Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) station in Bukit Koto Tabang, Agam regency, reported that as of 12 p.m. on Friday the air quality in the region was ‘‘unhealthy’’. The condition worsened until 1 p.m. and persisted as of 2 p.m. although on the previous day the air quality had been reported to be ‘good’.
Station staff member Alberth Nahas said there were two factors that had brought the haze back to West Sumatra.
First, he said, burned land that had caused haze in the southern part of Sumatra was still dry, meaning forest and land fires could not yet be dealt with thoroughly. Second, there might have been differences in air pressure between two air layers close to the surface.
“The difference caused dust particles to be restrained, so we can feel the impacts of haze,” Alberth said.
He added that the strong smell from the haze indicated that its source was not far away and that the pollution came from a relatively low air layer.
Budi of Padang Panjang said that haze was thickening in the city, where the pungent smoke could be smelled strongly.
Padang Panjang Health Agency said it had contacted the West Sumatra Provincial Health Agency’s laboratory center to monitor the air quality in the city on Saturday. As of Friday, schools in the city remained temporarily closed.
In Pekanbaru, Riau, Antara news agency reported that the Malaysian consulate started evacuating its nationals due to the haze. Consulate staff member Antoni said 120 Malaysians, including 86 students and 10 teachers, were to fly bank to Malaysia on Friday.
“This is an anticipatory measure because the air pollution standard index has exceeded the dangerous threshold,” said Antoni, adding that the Malaysians would be transported on board military aircraft from Subang airport, Malaysia.
“We received an order from the Malaysian kingdom to go home because haze in Pekanbaru is very dangerous,” said Ahmad Akifahmi, one of the Malaysian nationals waiting to be transported home.
Meanwhile, Central Kalimantan acting governor Hadi Prabowo said he would revoke the licenses of companies proven to have burned land during the dry season, causing haze.
“This has to be done to create a chilling effect,” Hadi said in Palangkaraya as quoted by Antara on Friday.
Hadi, who is also a director at the Home Affairs Ministry, gave his assurances that licensing would be tightened in the future to help prevent forest and land fires from recurring in the province.
“That’s why in the future every license has to come with the availability of fire fighting facilities including canals, water reservoirs and other equipment,” Hadi said.
Separately, the Central Kalimantan Police’s special crimes detective director Sr. Comr. Anton Sasono said the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) had deployed 15 investigators to help the Central Kalimantan Police investigate land fire cases.
He said the team would work with the hotspot investigation team in company areas indicated to have been burned.
Over half of 70 daily flights from Riau cancelled due to haze
MOHD ISKANDAR IBRAHIM New Straits Times 20 Sep 15;
RIAU (INDONESIA): Thick haze that blanketed Riau has affected almost 50 per cent of the flight operations at the Sultan Syarif Kasim II (SSK-II), here, for the past month.
SSK-II duty manager Hasnan Harun when met yesterday said many flights had to be either cancelled or delayed because aircraft were not allowed to take off or land due to poor visibility.
"Today (Saturday), 38 out of 70 scheduled flights (arrival and departure), including a Malindo Air flight from Malacca, had to be cancelled while the rest were delayed until visibility reached safe level.
"The minimum level of visibility for take off is 700 metres, while for landing is 1,000 metres.
"This morning (Saturday), three flights - AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur, Batik Air and Lion Air to Jakarta were delayed because visibility here as of 9am was only 500 metres," he said.
Hasnan said even if the haze situation had worsened, they would not shut down the airport. Instead, they will keep airlines updated.
He said since the haze started, only two days (Sept 11 and 15) saw zero flight arrival and departure because the visibility level was below 100 metres.
"An average of 8,000 passengers use this airport daily. But since the haze hits Riau, the number has dwindled."
