Indonesia doing \u2018everything\u2019 but still struggling to curb fires<\/p>\n
The vast size of the territory and the challenging conditions of\npeatlands pose serious difficulties in dealing with forest fires, said a\nsenior official.<\/p>\n
PONTIANAK: Indonesia is doing \u201ceverything\u201d to fight huge forest fires\nbut dozens of planes and thousands of personnel are still struggling to\ncontain them, a senior official said on Monday (Sep 21).<\/p>\n
Firefighters have been battling blazes for weeks in Borneo and\nSumatra that have blanketed parts of the country, as well as\nneighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, in toxic haze.<\/p>\n
The government has deployed 64 aircraft and 54,000 personnel to the\nislands since last month to try and put out the fires by water bombing,\nCabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the air to the ground, all forces continue to move. Everything\nis being done to extinguish the fires, reduce the impact of the smoke,\nand, most importantly, protect the public from the threat of forest and\nland fires,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe vast size of the territory and the challenging conditions of\npeatlands pose serious difficulties in dealing with forest and land\nfires in various regions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Sinyor, a spokesman for the disaster mitigation agency for\nWest Kalimantan, one of the most-affected areas, said the varied depths\nof the fires burning inside local peat soils was adding to the\ndifficulty.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother challenge is the limited water sources available to this\nground task force. In general, water sources decrease or even disappear\nin areas affected by the fires,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Last week, Indigenous and civil society groups in West Kalimantan\nfiled a class action lawsuit against the government, including the\npresident and the governor, for allegedly failing to prevent the\nfire.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a new disaster. This is a disaster that occurs every\nyear. This recurring pattern proves our view that the defendants knew\nabout the potential haze disaster and the risks of disaster from forest\nand land fires,\u201d the group\u2019s lawyer Glorio Sanen said in a statement at\nthe time.<\/p>\n
Around 350 members of Japan\u2019s Self-Defence Forces arrived in West\nKalimantan this month to assist with firefighting efforts.<\/p>\n
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has also expressed readiness to\naccept help from Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Indonesia regularly battles wildfires during the dry season, which\ntypically runs from July to October.<\/p>\n
But the blazes are more intense this year, coinciding with what is\nexpected to be the strongest El Nino climate phenomenon since comparable\nrecords began four decades ago.<\/p>\n
Experts also blame climate change, decades of forest degradation and\nslash-and-burn land-clearing practices that have changed the naturally\nfire-resistant landscape.<\/p>\n
More than 202,000 hectares of land were burned across Indonesia\nbetween January and July, according to the government.<\/p>\n
The Nusantara Atlas project put the figure at close to 300,000\nhectares over the same period, and estimated that the total area\naffected was nearly 896,000 hectares when including August.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesia-doing-everything-but-still-struggling-to-curb-fires-1789980651", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }