Indonesia: Rain starts to extinguish forest fires

Hans Nicholas Jong, The Jakarta Post 2 Nov 15;

The downpours that have been falling for five straight days in parts of the country have begun to reduce the number of hot spots indicating forest fires scattered throughout the archipelago.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Saturday that the combination of artificial rain and natural rain falling across Sumatra and Kalimantan from Oct. 26 had helped tremendously in fighting the raging forest fires.

“All indicators, such as hot spots, visibility and air quality have improved significantly,” he said. “If previously, the number of hot spots amounted to thousands, for example 2,218 on Oct. 24, today it’s only 402.”

The rain, which has followed the prolonged dry season resulting from the El NiƱo weather phenomenon, also helped increase the visibility in many major cities in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

“If in the past it was less than 500 meters on average, now it’s already much better,” Sutopo said.

The visibility in Padang, West Sumatra, was 4,000 m; 7,000 m in Pekanbaru, Riau; 2,800 m in Jambi; and 800 m in Palembang, South Sumatra on Sunday.

Kalimantan reportedly enjoyed better visibility on Saturday: 2,000 m in Pontianak, West Kalimantan; 1,500 m in Palangkaraya; and 6,000 m in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) predicted that the rain would last until this weekend and thus the government is intensifying its cloud seeding effort to induce more rain.

The fires raging across land and forests in Indonesia have destroyed more than 2 million hectares of land in three months, earning them the accolade of one of the worst ecological disasters in human
history.

According to the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan), 2,089,911 ha had been scorched by the ongoing fires from June 1 to Oct. 20.

“If we break down the figure, 600,000 ha of peatland and 1.5 million ha of other types of land [have been burned],” said Parwati Sofan, head of the environmental and disaster mitigation division at Lapan, in Jakarta on Friday.

Two million ha is the equivalent of 1.9 million soccer fields, or 32 times the area of Jakarta or four times the size of Bali.

Both Sumatra and Kalimantan, the two regions where the annual forest fires usually occur, were hit the hardest, with 832,999 ha and 806,817 ha of land burned in those areas, respectively.

However, Papua, which usually does not suffer from forest fires, had the third-largest area of burned land with 353,191 ha.

Moreover, Papua province was the province with the second-largest burned area with 344,980 ha, only surpassed by South Sumatra with 359,100 ha.

“If we look at past years, such as in 2013 and 2014, there were no forest fires [in Papua], but suddenly it ranked third [in size of burned land]. There must be something,” Sutopo said on Friday.

He said the sudden appearance of forest fires in Papua might have something to do with a massive agricultural project called the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) program.


Haze Situation In Indonesia Improves
Bernama 2 Nov 15;

JAKARTA, Nov 2 (Bernama) -- After being engulfed in haze for nearly four months, the situation is now improving with clearer skies throughout most of Indonesia.

According to the website of the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Body (BMKG), the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings in areas hit by haze, as of this evening, was below 150.

Even in Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan, which was previously shrouded in thick haze with API readings of over 2,000, the reading now stands at 100 and the lives of residents in the area were reported to have returned to normal.

Jambi in Sumatra recorded an API of 150 compared with 200 this morning while in Palembang, the API reading has dropped from 235 to 150.

The bureau chief in Jambi, Ashari when contacted by Bernama, said the haze began to thin in the region since last week.

He said the thick smoke had disappeared after the authorities used various methods to wet the soil, especially the peatlands, which were on fire the last three months.

Head of the Environment Agency of Riau, Yulwirawati Moesa, said an emergency air pollution status reported in Riau, due to a forest fire in the region, ended yesterday (Nov 1) as the air quality changed for the better due to rain in Riau for the past five days.

The local press reported that Indonesia had lost nearly two million hectares of forests due to the fires for nearly four months.

The fires destroyed 832,999 hectares of forests in Sumatra, 806,817 hectares in Kalimantan and 353,191 hectares in Papua.

The total area burned in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua is 30 times the size of the Special Region of Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia) that covers 740.3 square kilometres or approximately 74,000 hectares.

The fires have forced the indigenous communities out of the forests, and there are allegations that the thick haze has claimed several lives due to acute respiratory tract infections.

Social Affairs Minister, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, was quoted as saying that the government had provided Death Benefit Assistance of Rp15 million (RM1= Rp3,169) to residents who perished in the haze and so far, 10 families had received the assistance.

The local media have reported that the plantation and forest fires in Indonesia this year were the worst, with losses amounting to Rp20 trillion (about RM60 million).

Head of Data, Information, and Public Relations National Agency for Disaster Management, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said the figure was based on the expenses of putting out the fires which cost Rp20 trillion.

The plantation and forest fires this year occurred in South Sumatra, Jambi, Riau, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

The haze from the forest fires had swept into Malaysia and affected the daily activities of the nation's people until the government was forced to close schools in several states and cancel several recreational activities in open areas.

-- BERNAMA


200 Merapi climbers trapped by forest fires
Thejakartapost.com 2 Nov 15;

Around 200 climbers on Mount Merapi are reportedly trapped on the mountain by forest fires in Selo district.

It was reported by tempo.co that fires in the area first ignited on a cliff near the Post 1 trekking route at around 9 a.m. on Sunday. The fires then began to spread but have not yet fully covered the climbing route.

The Boyolali Disaster Mitigation Agency’s (BPBD) Kurniawan Fajar Prasetyo said that his team and Search and Rescue (SAR) teams and local residents were working together. “We are striving to ensure that all hikers can be brought down,” he said as quoted by tempo.co on Sunday.

Kurniawan said most of the climbers departed from the Barameru Post in Selo on Friday. Around 100 out of the 300 hikers that departed to the post have already been evacuated, he said.

Kurniawan further said the BPBD Boyolali had also provided a medical team in anticipation of health problems that might’ve affected the hikers. The health condition of the climbers already reached, he said, had been quite good. Some of the rescued climbers had returned home, he added, while others were still waiting for their friends who remained trapped.

Kurniawan said it was expected that the evacuation process would be completed soon. “We are also striving to prevent the fires from spreading further," said the SAR Boyolali team coordinator.

While evacuating the track, the dispatched personnel were also working on extinguishing the fires around Post 1. If the fires were not immediately extinguished, Kurniawan said, it was possible they would expand further, covering the trekking routes. So far, he added, the team was extinguishing the fires manually.

The cause of the fires and the total area of forest burned down remains unknown.

Michael, 27, a hiker from Salatiga, Central Java, said he was worried when he got information that forests in Mt. Merapi were burning.

Departing to the mountain on Friday evening, Michael, who was climbing with a friend, was picked up by the SAR team when they were at Post 2. “Many climbers have not yet been rescued from there,” he said.

BPBD Boyolali head Nur Khamdani said although most of the hikers had not yet been reached, they were all in safe areas a long way from the fires. Rescue personnel had also set up alternative routes to evacuate the climbers. (mas/ebf)