Fire damage losses rise to Rp 8.27b: Report

Fire damage losses rise to Rp 8.27b: Report

JAKARTA (JP): The amount of East Kalimantan ravaged by fires
this year has increased to 442,800 hectares while timber revenue
losses have reached Rp 8,270 billion (US$1.06 billion), a news
report said Saturday.

Quoting latest data from the provincial fire-fighting command
post in Samarinda, Antara said the total area destroyed could
increase further as fires were still raging despite some respite
brought by intermittent rains.

The vegetation dryness index in the province with a total of
about 21 million hectares of forest remains at 2,000, or 500
points above normal. This means the forests burn easily and the
province is given the status of "very vulnerable to fires," the
news agency said.

The still-burning fires are forest concessions, former forest
concessions, Kutai National Park and timber estates.

More than 253,000 hectares of forest concessions alone have
been ravaged, causing losses of Rp 5.078 billion in timber
revenues, the news agency said.

Murdiansyah, of the fire-fighting command post, said his
office was still making an inventory of companies which owned the
affected concessions and timber estates.

The latest estimate of financial losses incurred in this
year's fires in East Kalimantan is almost higher than last year's
fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan put together, namely US$1.3
billion.

Government officials and experts have said that losses
incurred to East Kalimantan's forest biodiversity are
unmeasurable and that it will take more than a hundred years for
the forest to regenerate to its earlier state. Financial losses
related to increasing health costs, lost tourist revenue and
canceled or delayed flights have yet to be calculated.

Antara said there were 13 hot spots, signifying fires, in the
province, as detected by the U.S. National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite imaging.

The small number, compared to more than 500 the previous week,
did not by any means signify a decrease in the number of fires as
many hot spots might have escaped satellite detection due to hazy
and cloudy weather, according to the German-Indonesia cooperating
body Integrated Forest Fires Management.

To extinguish the fires and address the aftermath of the
disaster, State Minister of Environment Juwono Sudarsono has
estimated that some two billion dollars would be needed over five
years.

Yesterday, Antara also reported that forest fires had forced
many orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus) to seek safer habitats in
settlements near the Kutai National Park.

Husein Akma, an official from the provincial chapter of the
Kaltim Prima Coal mining company, said employees had saved dozens
of orangutans either injured in the fires or found starving since
fleeing the fires.

Fires have so far ravaged up to 73,000 hectares of forest in
the conservation area.

Many of the approximately 2,000 orangutans in East Kalimantan
are currently wandering around areas of human settlement. Dozens
have reportedly been given shelter by residents.

"We give them food and treat them if they are sick and later
release them again," Akma added. (aan)