Indonesia: 557 hot spots detected in Sumatra Tuesday morning

thejakartapost.com 27 Oct 15;

Five hundred fifty-seven hot spots were detected in Sumatra, according to Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) data from the Terra and Aqua satellite at 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

“As many as 415 spots are in South Sumatra, followed by Jambi (125), Riau (8), Riau Islands (5) and Lampung (4),” the station’s meteorology section head, Budi Satria, said as quoted by Antara in Padang on Tuesday.

He said the scope of the hot spots had worsened the air quality in several areas in West Sumatra, especially Agam, Bukittinggi and their surrounding areas.

According to the BMKG, the wind flowing from south to southeast has made West Sumatra one of the areas most affected.

“Based on its average level of particulate matter [PM10] monitoring data, as of 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the province’s Air Pollution Standard Index [ISPU] has stood at 303ug/m3 and this is already unhealthy,” said Budi.

The BMKG data show the potential for rainfall in Mentawai Islands and coastal areas on Tuesday evening.

It also forecasts rainfall in half of the areas in Sumatra on Wednesday.

“In the southern areas, rainfall is predicted to occur unevenly; thus, chances for hot spots to appear again remain high. This is why West Sumatra is predicted to still face the impact of haze,” said Budi.

Separately, BMKG spokesperson Eko Suryanto said in Jakarta on Monday that the haze would still affect Jakarta until Wednesday or Thursday.

He said smoke resulting from forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan had reached several areas in Java, although it was still on high up in the air, not near the earth's surface.

“This is monitored from Himawari-8 satellite imagery analysis, which shows that Jakarta was covered with thin smoke over the last 2-3 days, but it is 3-5 kilometers above the surface,” said Eko.

“The thin smoke is from Kalimantan, as the wind flows from north to Java.”

“In the next 2-3 days, the BMKG predicts that Jakarta will still be dealing with haze,” he said. (edn/ebf)(+)


Riau to Expect Rainfall as Weather Begins to Improve
Tempo 28 Oct 15;

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Light to medium intensity of rain showered some areas in Riau yesterday afternoon and gradually improving the weather condition there. Haze from remaining forest and land fire covering those areas are slowly disappearing. The chances of rain will occur throughout Riau.

“Yesterday’s rain has made detected hotspots to reduce,” National Board for Disaster Management Chief Edwar Sanger said Wednesday, Oct 28.

The Air Pollution Standard Index in Pekanbaru is currently at 82 Psi or medium. “Hotspots in Riau is currently zero,” said Edwar.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Pekanbaru station mentioned that Tera and Aqua satelite monitored 10 hotspots in Sumatra. The number have far decreased from the previous day of 661 hotspots. Four hotspots spotted in South Sumatra, three in Bengkulu and three in Lampung. “The hotspots were monitored at 7am,” said Pekanbary BMKG chief Sugarin Widayat.

According to Sugarin, the condition in Riau is cloudy with haze covering the area. “The maximum temperature is between 31.0-33.5 degrees celsius,” he said.

Although showered by rain, the haze from the remaining forest fire still disturbs visibility in some areas including Rengat 100m, Dumai 100, Pelalawan 700m and Pekanbaru with 1000m.

RIYAN NOFITRA

557 hotspots detected across Sumatra
Antara 27 Oct 15;

Padang (ANTARA News) - The Terra and Aqua satellites detected 557 hotspots indicating forest and plantation fires across Sumatra Island on Tuesday at 5 a.m. local time.

"Of the total hotspots, 415 were detected in South Sumatra, 125 in Jambi, eight in Riau, five in Riau Islands, and four in Lampung," Budi Satria of the Koto Tabang meteorology office stated here, Tuesday.

The fires produced haze that has also affected West Sumatra, he pointed out.

The pollutant standard index in West Sumatra reached 303 micrograms per cubic meter of air (ug/m3), which is considered to be categorically unhealthy, he remarked.

In the meantime, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has decided to cut short his visit in the United States and to head to Sumatra and Kalimantan to closely monitor the efforts to put out the ongoing forest and plantation fires.

While in the Blair House in Washington D.C. on Monday (Oct. 26) at about 10:30 a.m. local time, the president had a telephonic conversation with Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security affairs (Menkopolhukan) Luhut Binsar Panjaitan who is in charge of monitoring the countrys haze situation.

"Just now, I rang up Menkopolhukan regarding the smog condition especially in the provinces of Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra as I have received information that most hotspots have been detected here," Jokowi stated.

"Due to several complaints from the public related to the health and social impacts of the haze, I have decided to cancel my trip to the West Coast," he remarked.

"From here (US we will) directly go to Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra, while for the planned visit to the West Coast, I have assigned the relevant ministers to continue the visit to meet the CEOs to explore cooperation in the fields of information technology and creative economy," the president noted.
(Uu.F001/INE/KR-BSR)



Thousands of hectares of land in Jambi burned down
Jon Afrizal, thejakartapost.com 27 Oct 15;

As many as 15,600 hectares of land in Jambi have been burned down in the last three months, some of which are in forest areas, a forestry official has said.

Jambi Forestry Agency head Irmansyah said on Tuesday that around 35 percent of the total burned down land in Jambi were forests while the remaining was in areas outside forests, including peatland. “Around 80 percent of the areas [not in forests] are peatland,” he said.

Irmansyah said local authorities had managed to handle fires in forests areas, including those which had occurred in the Berbak National Park and several conservation forest areas. “What is quite difficult to handle is fires in peatland,” he said, adding that thick smoke from the land and forest fires had continued to affect areas across the province.

Jambi Legislative Council (DPRD) speaker Cornelis Buston said DPRD Jambi was fully supporting the government’s plan to evacuate haze victims in Jambi. He further said the DPRD Jambi office was open and ready to accommodate the evacuated haze victims.

“The council building is ready to shelter the victims. They can use its air-conditioned rooms. Even the plenary meeting hall can be used [as a shelter]. This is for all of the people,” he said.

Cornelis said regent and mayor offices in all regions across Indonesia must be able to be used as evacuation locations for haze-affected residents. “Children suffering from respiratory infections need to be evacuated,” he said.

Together with the Jambi provincial administration, Cornelis said, DPRD Jambi was set to perform Istisqa prayers (mass prayers asking for rain). “Maybe the one and only thing needed to remove the smoke is rain,” he said. (ebf)


47 hotspots detected in North Sulawesi Province
Antara 27 Oct 15;

Manado, North Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Some 47 hotspots indicating forest and plantation fires have been detected in North Sulawesi Province, according to Commander of the Sam Ratulangi Air Force Base Colonel Djoko Tjahjono.

"We are trying to put out the 47 hotspots that spread in North Sulawesi, by conducting aerial and land operations," he said here, Tuesday.

Of the 47 hotsptos, 29 are found in Mount Klabat, 10 in Mount Dua Sudara, three in Bollang Mongondow, four in South Minahasa and one in Mount Wiau.

The aerial operation is focused on Mount Klabat and Mount Dua Sudara located in North Minahasa because they have the largest number of hostpots, which have potential to produce haze that could affect flights to and from the Sam Ratulangi international airport in Manado.

Acting Governor of North Sulawesi, Sonny Sumarsono, said some 850 personnel have been deployed to extinguish the fires.

"I will closely monitor the efforts to put out the fires immediately, so it would not affect the air traffic in North Sulawesi," he stated.

A total of 18,435 hectares of forest and plantation areas located in 15 districts and cities in the province have been gutted by fires.

"For the forest area, 5,870 hectares are burned, and for plantation area, some 12,565 hectares," Head of the North Sulawesi forestry office Herry Rotinsulu stated.


Fires Force Closure of Four Mountains in East Java
Fires continue to rage on Mount Lawu, East Java. (Antara Photo/Siswowidodo)
Jakarta Globe 28 Oct 15;

Surabaya, East Java. Four mountains in East Java have been closed to the public indefinitely, as forest fires continue to spread with little sign of relenting, officials have said.

“The four are Mount Lawu in Magetan district, Mount Penanggungan in Mojokerto district, Mount Argopuro in Jember district and Mount Semeru in Lumajang district. They are closed to the public for an indefinite period of time,” East Java Governor Soekarwo said in Surabaya, on Tuesday as quoted by tempo.co.

Saifullah, the East Java Deputy Governor, also echoes the same thing, saying: “Now that we have closed the mountains, the officials have to keep a keen eye on them [the mountains] to ensure that no hikers or tourists will ever climb their way up," Saifullah, the Deputy Governor of East Java, said.

The East Java Provincial government has instructed the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), district governments and military officials to assist in the evacuation of hikers in the case of future fire incidents.

Haze has caused limited visibility in the area, preventing the government from deploying a fleet of helicopters to extinguish the fires, Soekarwo said.

“The only way to extinguish it is by doing so manually,” he added.

An extended dry season has caused the conditions leading to increased vulnerability to wildfires around Indonesia.

On Oct. 18, seven hikers were killed while trapped on Mount Lawu due to forest fires.


Haze Affects Dozens of Airports
Tempo 27 Oct 15;

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 23 airports were experiencing trouble as haze originated from Sumatra and Kalimantan continues to worsen. "[The airports] did not shuts down its operation, it's just experiencing trouble and today there are 23 airports disturbed by the haze," said Novi Riyanto, Director of Air Navigation at the Communications Ministry to Tempo on Tuesday, October 27, 2015.

Novi said that the number of affected airports is likely to change every day. “Today [there are] 23 [airports], yesterday it was 40, and the day before it was 35 airports,” Novi mentioned.

Novi claimed that she has no information regarding how much losses suffered by the airports. However, Novi was certain that the worst losses were experienced by the airlines. “The passengers are the ones who are disturbed the most by this haze,” she explained.

Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport authority in Pekanbaru, Riau, decided to cancel 56 flights as the airport’s runway remains covered by haze.

ARIEF HIDAYAT


Prolonged haze tortures kids
Hasyim Widhiarto, Apriadi Gunawan and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post 27 Oct 15;

Children are the most vulnerable in the midst of Indonesia’s ongoing haze crisis, which has severely disrupted their education and threatened their health.

In Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, the local administration’s decision to close down schools for almost five weeks over the past two months has received a mixed reaction from teachers and parents.

Susiati, who teaches first grade students at SDN 6 Pahandut state elementary school, said she had received complaints from several parents who considered the policy, aimed at minimizing negative health impacts from the thickening haze in the city, ineffective and detrimental to their children’s development.

“The parents told me that their children had already forgotten what they learned at school, particularly in reading and writing. If the school closures last too long, we won’t have any other option except to start all the lessons again,” Susiati said on Monday.

Over the past few months, Indonesia has struggled to minimize the impact of air pollution originating from fires on plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The ongoing haze crisis has also been exacerbated by this year’s prolonged dry season, triggered in turn by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Among the country’s affected regions, Palangkaraya has so far been the worst hit, with an average daily concentration of particulate matter (PM10) in the city standing at above 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) over the past couple of weeks.

On Monday morning, PM10 concentration in the city stood at 1,357.16 µg/m3.

Authorities consider air quality “good” if its PM10 concentration stands below 50 µg/m3 and “hazardous” when it surpasses 350 µg/m3.

At least 10 people in Sumatra and Kalimantan have died, and thousands, mostly children, have been hospitalized because of severe respiratory illnesses caused by the haze.

Fourteen-year-old Khairil Anwar, a ninth grader at Muhammadiyah Junior High School, said the repeated closures had made him pessimistic about graduating from the school next year with decent grades.

“Our math teacher, for instance, could only cover the first two chapters of our math textbook due to the haze,” he said, adding that his school had only several weeks remaining before the end of the academic semester.

According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), the ongoing haze crisis had caused more than 500,000 people in six provinces — Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan — to suffer from acute respiratory infections (ISPA).

In Pekanbaru, Riau, at least two children and one adult recently died because of respiratory failure allegedly triggered by the haze that has blanketed the province for the past couple of months.

Following at his administration’s unsuccessful attempts to put out forest and peatland fires, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has instructed his ministers to prepare for the evacuation of haze victims, particularly infants and children, from the worst affected regions.

In a visit to Central Kalimantan on Saturday, Culture and Education Minister Anies Baswedan said that the haze had affected the operation of around 25,000 schools across the archipelago.

Anies said the government would rearrange the schedule for national exams in the affected schools next year in order to give their final year students more time to prepare.

“[The results of] national exams do not determine [a student’s] graduation. The exams won’t ask students things that they did not learn [at school],” he said.

Meanwhile in West Sumatra, several regional administrations decided on Monday to give local students another day off because of thickening haze in their respective areas.

The Padang municipal administration, however, decided to open local schools again after closing them on Friday and Saturday for health concerns.

“Despite the haze, I decided to take my son to school, otherwise he would miss the lessons,” said Dewi Fajriani, a local resident and mother of a fourth grader.

In North Sumatra, a number of local administrations, including in provincial capital of Medan and Simalungun and Deli Serdang regencies, extended school closures until Tuesday despite a declining intensity of haze in the regions.

“We will start school activities again on Wednesday,” said Deli Serdang Education, Youth and Sport Agency secretary Misran Sihaloho.


Residents leave town in search for fresh air
Hasyim Widhiarto, Syofiardi Bachyul Jb and Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post 26 Oct 15;

Feeling frustrated with the unbeaten smoky haze crisis in their hometown, Palangkaraya residents have started to abandon the Central Kalimantan provincial capital, temporarily leaving their spouses, jobs and properties in search of fresh air.

After struggling to survive the prolonged haze crisis for the past several weeks, Nurhayati, who lives in Jekan Raya district, Palangkaraya, finally gave up after she had recently rushed her 2-year-old daughter to a local hospital because of a severe cough.

With approval from her husband, a member of the local Indonesian Military (TNI), the mother of three packed her luggage on Saturday and took her children to her cousin’s house in the South Kalimantan city of Banjarbaru, located some 200 kilometers southeast of Palangkaraya.

“The smoke has become too dangerous for my children. I have no other choice except taking them out of town immediately,” the 22-year-old housewife told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Nurhayati, however, said she must leave her husband in Palangkaraya, as military personnel in the province have been deployed to support the government’s efforts to extinguish extensive forest and peat land fires in the region, which has become the source of pollution that has blanketed Palangkaraya and surrounding regions over the past two months.

Thirty-two-year-old Kartika Sari, another Palangkaraya resident, shared a similar story.

An employee of a pharmaceutical company, Kartika recently decided to take unpaid leave to bring her 3-year-old daughter to Banjarmasin, the South Kalimantan provincial capital.

Kartika said she had actually wanted to bring her daughter out of town since earlier this month upon learning that the level of air quality in Palangkaraya stood at extremely hazardous levels, but refrained from doing so since she had no relatives in Banjarmasin.

Over the past few months, Indonesia has been struggling to anticipate the impacts of air pollution haze originating from fires in peat land and plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan. The ongoing haze crisis has also been exacerbated by this year’s prolonged dry season that has been triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Among the country’s affected regions, Palangkaraya has so far become the worst with the average daily concentration of particulate matter (PM10) in the city standing at above 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) over the past couple of weeks.

Authorities consider air quality “good” if its PM10 concentration stands below 50 µg/m3 and “hazardous” when it surpasses 350 µg/m3.

On Saturday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) revealed that the haze had caused more than 500,000 people in six provinces — Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan — to suffer from acute respiratory infections (ISPA).

In Pekanbaru, Riau, at least three people have died due to respiratory failure allegedly triggered by the haze that has been blanketing the province for almost two months.

Meanwhile in West Sumatra, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) Padang station on Saturday reported that the province’s Minangkabau International Airport (BIM) had become the only airport operating in the central part of the island, as haze had reduced visibility in Medan in North Sumatra, Palembang in South Sumatra and Jambi to below 400 meters.

“Visibility in all airports in the three cities stands below the minimum [safety] requirement. All have been closed except BIM,” said the station’s spokesperson, Budi Iman Samiaji.


Haze spreads to Jakarta, but no disruption to flights
thejakartapost.com 27 Oct 15;

The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has announced that the haze has spread to Jakarta from forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, but it has not affected the flights at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Tuesday.

BNPB’s head of data information Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Monday that the spread of haze to Jakarta was the first time it has ever happened since forest fires started affecting Sumatra and Kalimantan. “In previous years, we never saw the haze spread to Jakarta,” said Sutopo.

He said that that thin haze was seen at a height of 1,000 to 3,000 meters in Jakarta and looked thicker in the morning.

Meanwhile, the management of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport said on Tuesday that the haze did not affect any flights at the airport.

“Currently, there are no reports of haze from crew members in the field. If there is haze, it must be outside the airport,” said Yudho Arianto, a Soekarno-Hatta Airport Terminal 2 duty manager as reported by kompas.com on Tuesday.

He said that delays and cancellations of flights only occurred for the flights to haze-prone areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

BNPB said that apart from covering the Jakarta sky, thin haze has covered the sky above Banten, West Java, and the western part of Central Java. (bbn). (+)


Haze Cuts Indonesia's Oil Production as Pollution Hurts Workers
Fitri Wulandari Bloomberg 27 Oct 15;

Indonesia’s forest fires are cutting the country’s crude oil production and briefly shut a BP Plc gas plant this month, in the first signs the haze pollution is affecting industry.

Haze from the fires on Sumatra island means oil fields have to undergo more frequent maintenance, and staff are unable to work properly because of the poor air quality, Elan Biantoro, a spokesman at upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas, said on Tuesday. Crude oil output has fallen below 800,000 barrels per day, compared with an average of 800,500 barrels a day in September, though Biantoro couldn’t say how much the drop was.
“It shows that production is disrupted because we normally pump more than 800,000 barrels a day,” he said.

Smoke from burning land for plantations in Sumatra and Borneo has spread across Southeast Asia for over a month, causing respiratory illnesses in Indonesia and leading President Joko Widodo to cut short a trip to the U.S. this week. Exacerbated by dry weather from the El Nino phenomenon, this year’s haze is among the worst on record.

Hundreds of oil wells in Sumatra’s Riau province, including those run by Chevron Corp., had to be shut down due to haze last year, showing extended pollution could worsen the impact this time. Chevron, Indonesia’s biggest oil producer, operates the Duri and Minas fields in Sumatra. Indonesia may take as long as a decade to permanently curb the land-burning, according to Jonatan Anderias Lassa, a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

The haze also disrupted operations of the Tangguh liquefied natural gas plant in Papua this month, Biantoro said. Tangguh’s Train 1 was shut from Oct. 16-18 to clean filters, with normal operations having resumed and no disruption to the shipping schedule, said Dharmawan Samsu, Indonesia country head for BP.

Oil production in Indonesia, which plans to rejoin OPEC, may average 810,000 to 815,000 barrels a day for this year as the Banyu Urip field in Cepu will ramp up to full production in mid-November, Biantoro said. That would still be lower than a state 2015 budget target for 825,000 barrels a day, he said.