The evacuation process will prioritise infants and children due to their vulnerability to lung disease.
Channel NewsAsia 26 Oct 15;
JAKARTA: As the air quality worsened in Kalimantan island due to forest fires, the government of Indonesia will soon evacuate haze victims in Central Kalimantan to its neighbouring province, South Kalimantan.
"Compared to Central Kalimantan, the air quality in South Kalimantan is better," Inspectorate General at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Tamizi A Karim, told reporters on Monday (Oct 26).
For nearly two months, thousands of fires caused by slash-and-burn farming in Indonesia have choked vast expanses of Southeast Asia, forcing schools to close and scores of flights and some international events to be cancelled.
Karim also said the evacuation process will prioritise infants and children due to their vulnerability to lung disease.
He said that there are seven places that have been prepared to accommodate haze refugees. Among of them is a haj boarding house that can accommodate around 700 people.
WARSHIPS DEPLOYED
Indonesia has deployed three warships, with more on standby, to deliver face masks, tents and medical supplies to thousands of people affected by acrid haze from forest fires, an official.
Three warships have arrived in Kalimantan - Indonesia's half of Borneo and one of the worst affected regions - bringing much needed medical staff, shelters, cooking stoves and protective masks.
Indonesian military spokesman Tatang Sulaiman said the plan was to build temporary shelters with air purifiers and beds away from haze-plagued cities, but the ships could also act as evacuation centres if needed.
"Our warships are ready to evacuate residents, whether to these temporary shelters or even on board. We are prepared for that," he told AFP. "Those who will be evacuated first will be children and those suffering from chronic respiratory illnesses."
Three more ships are stocked and ready to leave for either Kalimantan or South Sumatra, while another five could be pressed into service later if needed, he added.
The government has deployed around 30 aircraft to fight the fires and for cloud seeding, with 22,000 troops on the ground to combat the blazes, which are among the worst in decades.
Indonesia's disaster agency say the fires from slash-and-burn farming in Kalimantan and neighbouring Sumatra have killed 10 people so far, some of whom died while fighting the blazes and others from the pollution.
The agency estimated at least half a million people have suffered from respiratory illness since the fires started in July and 43 million people have been affected in the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan.
- Merdeka.com/AFP/ec
Increased cloud cover forecast over Sumatra, Kalimantan
Antara 26 Oct 15;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesias National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) has forecast an increase in cloud cover over Sumatra and Kalimantan on Oct. 28-30.
"If the forecast comes true, it would have a positive impact on the efforts to extinguish land and forest fires," Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the BNPB spokesman, stated here, on Monday.
The upcoming situation will be used to maximize the efforts by utilizing weather modification technology to create artificial rain, he explained.
The forecast is based on a report released by the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG).
"Moreover, based on the same data provided by the BMKG, there will be an increase in cloud cover over North of Equator on Oct. 25-27 ," he noted.
According to the forecast, rains will occur in North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, West Sumatra, and the northern part of South Sumatra, he added.
In addition, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and the northern part of South Kalimantan are also expected to receive rainfall.
"Earlier, on Sunday (Oct. 25), Medan in North Sumatra as well as Bengkalis and Pelalawan in Riau also received rainfall," Sutopo stated.
Sutopo had earlier noted that the atmospheric conditions over sea in Indonesia were very dry.
"Moreover, a tropical cyclone in the Philippines has absorbed water vapor in Indonesia that has prevented the formation of clouds," he explained.
The condition has also been exacerbated by suspended smoke particles in the atmosphere, which absorb the water vapor and prevent cloud formation.
As a result, the forecast of increased cloud cover will have a positive impact on the efforts to extinguish land and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, which continue to spread.
Yesterday, Sutopo had said the haze emanating from the forest fires, which had hit the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, had also affected Jakarta.
"Parts of Jakarta have been shrouded by thin haze arising from Sumatra and Kalimantan," Sutopo remarked here, Sunday.
The haze has also affected Banten, West Java, as well as parts of East Java, Bali, and Nusa Tenggara, he added.
So far, more than 43 million people on the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan have been exposed to the haze.
Earlier, the haze from Sumatra and Kalimantan had affected the neighboring countries, mainly Singapore, and parts of Malaysia and Thailand.(*)
Desperation in the epicentre of Southeast Asia's haze crisis
AFP 26 Oct 15;
When the smoke from forest fires turned a thick, acrid yellow, casting an apocalyptic glow over Palangkaraya, Kartika Sari decided to grab her child and flee the Indonesian city at the epicentre of the haze crisis smothering Southeast Asia.
The 32-year-old pharmacist and her three-year-old daughter have for weeks been inhaling toxic air in Palangkaraya, a city of 240,000 that has been engulfed in poisonous darkness by smoke from peat land set alight to clear land for palm oil plantations.
"The smoke was no longer white, it was yellow," she told AFP from an evacuation centre in Banjarmasin, a six-hour drive from Palangkaraya.
"Usually we just endured it, even though we had headaches and felt nauseous. But it has got so bad lately, that I can't take it anymore. I can't even breathe fresh air."
Now she waits in limbo in a basic shelter with nine other evacuees, mostly children, including a one-year-old boy suffering from a severe cough and diarrhoea.
Authorities say the fires from slash-and-burn farming in Borneo and neighbouring Sumatra have killed 10 people so far, some of whom died while fighting the blazes and others from the pollution.
Respiratory illnesses in Palangkaraya have soared as the choking smog has worsened in recent weeks.
-- "No escape" --
While many have relocated to safety elsewhere with friends and relatives, others have no choice but to stay behind despite the risks posed by the noxious haze.
39-year-old Rahmah, a street vendor in Palangkaraya, said she needed to keep doing her job to pay her children's school fees, despite the toll on her health from working outdoors.
"I have to stay whether I like it or not. My livelihood is here so how can I leave?" Rahmah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP on the porch of her riverfront wooden house in Palangkaraya.
"You get light headed after a while, but I just try my best to cure myself with simple medication."
Her neighbour Nurjanah, who shares a small house with seven other family members, including her five-month-old granddaughter, echoed the sense of desperation felt in the blighted city, where visibility is sometimes as low as a few dozen metres (yards).
"Leave? Where to?" Nurjanah said, when asked why she doesn't evacuate.
"The smoke gets everywhere, so what's the point of evacuating when there's no escape?"
-- "Can't go on like this" --
At a nearby health clinic, hundreds of people queue for hours for a chance to use one of the 10 oxygen tanks available to get a breath of fresh air.
Even there the haze finds its way in, swarming around 23-year-old English teacher Ayu Dwitasari, who has suffered from bronchitis for days and is having trouble breathing.
"It's got especially bad today, that is why I came here," Dwitasari told AFP.
Mass evacuations -- especially of children and those suffering chronic respiratory illnesses -- were not out of the question, said Indonesian military spokesman Tatang Sulaiman.
Three warships carrying medical teams, tents, cooking stoves and protective masks were on their way to the worst-affected regions in Kalimantan -- Indonesia's half of Borneo -- and Sumatra, he said, to help build temporary shelters away from the haze-plagued cities.
"Our warships are ready to evacuate residents, whether to these temporary shelters, or even to take them on board. We are prepared for that," he told AFP.
But for those fighting the fires, a lack of equipment and tinder-dry conditions are hampering their best efforts to curb the thousands of blazes smouldering on carbon-rich peat lands.
In Kuala Kapuas, not far from Palangkaraya, 33-year-old volunteer Rahmat Muhamad Noor and around 20 others toil around the clock fighting the fires, struggling with limited water and poor equipment.
Wearing thin rubber boots and a cotton face mask, Noor tried desperately to stamp out a fire with a wooden stick after the machine pumping water through the hose broke down.
"Please tell the government we need more help," he told AFP. "We need masks. We can't go on like this."
Three Warships Dock in Banjarmasin to Evacuate Haze Victims
Tempo 26 Oct 15;
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Three Indonesian warships have docked in Banjarmasin's Port of Trisakti in South Kalimantan. Banjarmasin's Navy Base Commander, Col. Haris Bima Bayuseto, said that KRI Banda Aceh-593, KRI Teluk Jakarta-541 and KRI Dr. Soeharso, had docked on Sunday evening, October 25.
According to Haris Bima, only KRI Dr. Soeharso is still anchored at the estuary of Barito River, and that he has no knowledge whether the ships are carrying the 1,000 units of air purifier that the government has promised to distributed in Banjarmasin. "I don't know because we have yet to unload the ships," said Bima after he welcomed the ships on Sunday.
The Indonesian Navy (TNI AL) have previously said that nine warships will be stationed to evacuated the haze victims across Sumatra and Kalimantan - each with different functions and use. KRI Banda Aceh and Dr. Soeharso are landing platform docks which will be used as floating hospitals - both of which have be designated to be used to help haze victims in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
TNI AL will also deploy Marine Corps to fight existing fire spots on fields and forests across affected areas. Currently, Marines are known to have been stationed in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
DIANANTA P. SUMEDI
