Indonesia: Thin haze blankets Riau region

The Jakarta Post 17 Mar 16;

Forest and land fires that have been burning for the past two weeks began on Wednesday to blanket some regions in Riau with a thin smoky haze.

The haze appeared every morning for the past three days in Dumai, but vanished in the afternoon and evening.

“It’s not yet worrying. The haze came here because of the wind direction,” Dumai Deputy Mayor Eko Suharjo said on Wednesday.

Eko said the smoke originated from Bengkalis and the Meranti Islands, as according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency the hot spots were found in those two regencies.

However, he admitted that although there were no hotspots in Dumai, land and forest fires have still occurred in his area recently.

Based on the latest reports, the fires destroyed a total of 314 hectares of forest and land in the Medang Kampai and East Dumai districts.