Forest fires may be manmade, says official<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Satellite images and aerial photos suggest the
\nfresh forest fires in East Kalimantan may have been started
\nintentionally, a government official said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The director for environment damage control at the
\nEnvironmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal), Yon Artiono
\nArba'i, said he would dispatch a team to the province tomorrow to
\ninvestigate.<\/p>\n
"If the allegation is true, we will refer the case to the
\npolice for further investigation," Yon told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
"We are worried that unless we deal with it quickly, there
\nwill be a recurrence of natural disasters on the scale of 1982 or
\n1997," he said.<\/p>\n
He was referring to the 1982-1983 forest fires in which around
\n1.7 million hectares of forest in East Kalimantan were ravaged.
\nThere has been no official estimate of losses wrought by the 1997
\nblazes, but some have put the affected area at more than one
\nmillion hectares.<\/p>\n
Yon said the U.S.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric
\nAdministration (NOAA) satellite images showed the fires were in
\nplantation and logging companies' concessions.<\/p>\n
"But we can't name the alleged culprits for the time being
\nuntil we have sufficient evidence," he said.<\/p>\n
Yon added that the investigation team from the Coordinating
\nTeam for Fighting Forest and Land Fires would be in the province
\nfor three days to undertake field check.<\/p>\n
The coordinating team was set up by President Soeharto last
\nyear. It is chaired by State Minister of Environment Sarwono
\nKusumaatmadja, assisted by Secretary of Development Operations
\nLt. Gen. AM Hendropriyono.<\/p>\n
National disaster<\/p>\n
Last year, forest and brush fires raged in many parts of
\nKalimantan and Sumatra, spreading smog as far as Malaysia and
\nSingapore for almost four months.<\/p>\n
It was declared a national disaster because it put the lives
\nof millions of people in danger. The danger eased in November
\nwith the start of the rainy season.<\/p>\n
However, the rain that has brought some respite has proved
\ninsufficient due to the El Nio weather phenomenon, whose effects
\nare believed worse in the last six months than ever before this
\ncentury.<\/p>\n
East Kalimantan has been asked to be on "full alert" because
\nof the imminent threat of the forest fires that returned last
\nweek.<\/p>\n
The smoke from the latest forest fires, reported to be
\nsmoldering on plantations and logging concessions near the Bukit
\nSoeharto forest reserve in the Kutai regency, disrupted flights
\nto and from airports in the province last week and on Sunday.
\n(aan)<\/p>",
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